Breast Cancer Research Trust NZ, gaining knowledge and saving lives

Current clinical trials

Preventative Trials

Prevention trials test new approaches such as the use of medicines or changes in lifestyle that may lower the risk of getting certain cancers.

Some clinical trials will focus on risk factors as these factors can also tell us important information about what might cause breast cancer, providing clues as to who is most at risk and how we might prevent breast cancer from occurring.

Risk factors include lifestyle factors, such as alcohol intake and being overweight, however, there are factors that you have no control over (called non-modifiable risk factors), which may affect your breast cancer risk – such as being a woman, getting older, and having a family history of the disease.

Some people with multiple close relatives diagnosed with breast (or ovarian) cancer have inherited a BRCA gene mutation. This means they are at very high risk for breast cancer.

Women at high risk for developing breast cancer have the options of lifestyle changes, regular breast screening, preventative mastectomy or medical prevention for managing their risk.

Below are links to preventative clinical trials the Breast Cancer Research Trust is currently involved in.

Treatment

Treatment trials test new therapies or new applications for existing therapies to improve a patient’s outcome.

Treatments include drugs such as chemotherapy or hormonal treatments, radiotherapy, and surgical techniques.

The BCRT have participated in training programmes and use booklets called ‘decision aids’ to help with better communication of clinical trial and treatment information. At the time of breast cancer diagnosis and planning of treatment, there is a lot of detailed information for women and their wāhanu to understand.

Breast cancer is not just one disease, there are many different types. In addition to finding treatment options for these harder-to-treat breast cancers, some of the other major clinical challenges include trying to find ways to reduce the side effects of treatments that can often severely impact the quality of life of people with breast cancer, and finding alternative treatments for when breast cancer develops resistance.

Below are links to treatment clinical trials the Breast Cancer Research Trust are currently involved in:

In follow up

Open to new participants

Examining Personalised Radiation Therapy for low-risk early breast cancer (EXPERT)

Quality of Life Studies

Quality of life studies pay special attention to a breast cancer patient’s feelings about their diagnosis and the impact and side effects of treatments.

Thanks to advances in breast cancer research, survival rates have increased meaning that more wāhine/women are living with the long-term consequences of their breast cancer diagnosis and treatment than ever before.

Breast cancer can have far-reaching physical and psychological impacts. Maintaining a positive quality of life – at the time of diagnosis, during treatment, and after completion of treatment – is a crucial aspect of treatment outcomes and breast cancer care, for women and their whānau.

Quality of life studies look for ways to improve the overall experience for patients who receive these treatments now and in the future.

In follow up