Latinas have lower rates of breast cancer than other groups.
Sounds like good news, right?
The bad news is that the Latina breast cancer rate has been rising over the past decade, and breast cancer is still the top cause of death for Latinas.
Fortunately, we have clinical trials.
Clinical trials are studies to find more effective treatments, which can help current cancer patients, and better understand cancer to help future Latino cancer survivors.
You can help the cause by volunteering for the Partial Irradiation and Sequential vs. Concurrent Chemo Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio.
The trial, for women ages 18-100, including Latinas, aims to protect women against severe cases of breast cancer.
“We need Latina volunteers for studies like the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial because it helps researchers create treatments and solutions tailored for this population,” said Dr. Amelie Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research and the Salud America! program at UT Health San Antonio. “With diversity in clinical trials, we can improve breast cancer prevention, treatment, and survivorship for Latinas.”
Join the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at UT Health San Antonio by filling out the “Contact the Study Team” form linked here!
What is a Clinical Trial?
Clinical trials can help researchers create effective treatments, or better understand illnesses.
For breast cancer, researchers are learning more and more through clinical trials to help slow, manage, and treat this disease, and prevent deaths.
Historically, Latinos have been underrepresented in clinical studies due to factors such as language barriers, lack of culturally sensitive providers, and socioeconomic disparities.
Without Latino volunteers for trials, the benefits may miss this group.
“Latinos represent 18.5% of the U.S. population but less than 10% in federal clinical trials,” said Dr. Patricia Chalela, a health promotion researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. “Underrepresentation of minorities in clinical trials results in disparities of cancer outcomes and limits the generalizability of the findings because researchers cannot study how minority patients respond to new treatments.”
Join the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at UT Health San Antonio by filling out the “Contact the Study Team” form linked here!
What is the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio?
This study follows a previous one at Johns Hopkins, where women were treated with partial breast irradiation and chemotherapy given at the same time.
Now researchers are now testing these treatment strategies, including giving partial breast irradiation and chemotherapy at the same time, which is considered a new method.
They hope to see if this treatment has the same side effects and outcomes as giving partial breast irradiation and chemotherapy at different times — the older method.
“In this study women who had their breast cancer removed but need radiation to the breast will be randomized to partial breast irradiation at the same time as chemotherapy or partial breast radiation at a different time than chemotherapy,” the researchers write. “Randomization is like flipping a coin but in this study about 2 of every 3 women will get the new method.”
Join the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at UT Health San Antonio by filling out the “Contact the Study Team” form linked here!
Who Can Volunteer for the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio?
The Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at the MD Anderson Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio are looking for participants who are:
- Older than age 18
- Patient must have histologically confirmed (by routine H&E staining) invasive adenocarcinoma of the breast
- For subjects with two breasts, they must have had a bilateral mammogram prior to surgery
- Patient must have a medical oncology consult with the recommendation of chemotherapy
- Women of child-bearing potential must have a negative (urine or blood) pregnancy test within 6 weeks prior to start of protocol therapy
- Women of childbearing potential must also use effective non-hormonal contraception while undergoing radiation treatment and chemotherapy
- Able to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document
Exclusion criteria includes:
- Patient is pregnant
- Patients who have received neoadjuvant chemotherapy or neoadjuvant hormonal therapy for the current cancer
- Patients with squamous cell cancer or sarcomas of the breast. Patients who have active local-regional disease prior to registration
- Patient has other prior malignancy except for adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, in situ cervical cancer, or any other cancer from which the patient has been disease-free for less than 5 years
- Patient has a serious medical or psychiatric illness which prevents informed consent or adherence with treatment Study team (PI, Co-I, and or research nurse) may deny enrollment if in the study team’s opinion, the candidate may not be adherent to the treatment protocol including scheduled follow-ups.
Join the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at UT Health San Antonio by filling out the “Contact the Study Team” form linked here!
What Will Volunteers Do as Part of the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio?
The trial has two phases.
The first phase, which will last about 6-7 months, will begin a round of Partial Breast Irradiation (PBI)—smaller doses of slight radiation—with sequential chemotherapy, or the general form of cancer treatment.
“The primary endpoint will be short term (from baseline to the 6-7 month follow-up) grade 3 or 4 toxicity: confluent moist desquamation, pitting edema, ulceration, hemorrhage or necrosis,” the researchers write. “Our primary objective is to determine if chemotherapy and PBI can be given concurrently with short term toxicity comparable to standard of care, whole breast radiation (WBR) without chemotherapy, and not inferior to that of PBI plus chemotherapy given sequentially.”
After that six-seven month follow up, volunteers will enter the second phase of the trial.
In this, researchers will study:
- 1st tumor recurrence [Time Frame: 6-7 months] — Evaluate and compare any first tumor recurrence (local plus distant) between arms of the study.
- Long-term grade 3-4 toxicities [Time Frame: 6-12 months] — Evaluate long term skin toxicity with concurrent chemotherapy and compare between arms of the study.
- Time to tumor recurrence [Time Frame: 6-12 months] —Evaluate and compare Ipsilateral Breast Tumor Recurrence (IBTR), local recurrence, distant recurrence, and disease-free survival.
- Quantify risks and benefits comparison for each arm [Time Frame: 6-12 months] — Give a description of the risks and benefits observed in each arm of the study over the duration of the trial.
Join the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at UT Health San Antonio by filling out the “Contact the Study Team” form linked here!
Call Now to Volunteer for the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio!
Join this clinical trial by filling out the “Contact the Study Team” form linked here!
If you volunteer for the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial, you are helping many more people than yourself alone.
Just ask Alma Lopez.
Lopez has been a breast cancer survivor for more than 15 years. 
She believes participating in a cancer clinical trial at UT Health San Antonio helped her get better treatment and better long-term health in her survivorship journey.
“Clinical trials are great for finding new treatments that help people,” Lopez said. “And it helps the scientists. It gives opportunity to better medication for all populations.”
Meanwhile, at UT Health San Antonio, Ramirez is creating new ways to encourage Latinos to volunteer for cancer and Alzheimer’s clinical trials. This work is supported by a grant from Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.
“Latinos in clinical trials are not only helping themselves, but they are also building a future with better treatments that can help their families and communities in the future,” Ramirez said.
Join the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at UT Health San Antonio by filling out the “Contact the Study Team” form linked here!
The post Join the Early Breast Cancer Study to Help Our Familias Prevent Severe Cases! appeared first on Salud America.