Clinical Trials for HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) Mutant-Positive Tumors are studies in which new treatments are being evaluated for their safety and efficacy for cancer patients. For new cancer therapies to be commercially used and known as a standard of care, they must be approved by the FDA after evaluation in different phases of clinical trials. These trials both help patients access new treatments and further clinical research with their participation.

Free Matching to Cancer Clinical Trials

The purpose of Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials is to study new methods of treatment, detection, and prevention of pancreatic cancer to improve the standard care provided to these patients. All medicine that is currently used to treat cancer of any type once went through the phases of a clinical trial and was approved by the FDA.

There are over 500 pancreatic cancer clinical trials available in the United States right now. Clinical trials can take years to be completed, so enrolling gives you early access to a treatment otherwise unavailable to the public.

Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed in the advanced stages (Stage 3 and Stage 4) because symptoms are rarely present in the early stages. Pancreatic cancer consists of 3% of all cancer cases in the United States and only 10% are early-stage cancer. For a patient’s pancreatic cancer to be classified as stage 3, the cancer must have spread from the pancreas to other areas of the body. Either the cancer has spread to four or more lymph nodes nearby, or metastasized to the nearby major blood vessels surrounding the pancreas, which include:

Pancreatic Cancer Symptoms can occur before or after pancreatic cancer is diagnosed. Pancreatic cancer affects the tissues in the pancreas, the organ that releases enzymes to help digestion, and produces hormones that control the sugar in your blood.

Pancreatic Cancer Symptoms can be noticed with nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, slow developing jaundice, obstruction and pain in the stomach outlet. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), develops in the ducts that carry digestive enzymes from the pancreas to the body. Pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed after it has progressed because symptoms do not often occur until the cancer is in the advanced stages.

An estimated 57,600 adults will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the United States this year. It is also estimated that 47,050 deaths from pancreatic cancer will occur, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The American Cancer Society reports that the 5-year survival rate for people with pancreatic cancer is 9%, while the 5-year rate for distant pancreatic cancer is just 3%. Although that may seem low, Stage 4 pancreatic cancer survivors do exist.

Pancreatic cancer begins in the tissues of your pancreas. It occurs when digestive enzymes become energetic inside the pancreas, attacking, and damaging its tissues. It can prevent you from properly absorbing nutrients from the meals you eat and producing hormones that help regulate blood sugar. There are risk factors for pancreatic cancer that can be controlled, and risk factors that cannot be.

Risk factors for pancreatic cancer can be behaviors and characteristics, but they can also be genetic. It is important to try and avoid the risk factors that you can for pancreatic cancer, because most pancreatic cancer cases go undetected until it is advanced and troublesome to treat. In the overwhelming majority of circumstances, signs only develop after pancreatic cancer has grown and begun to spread.