Blood & Cancer

The greatest barrier to clinical trial enrollment is patients not knowing an appropriate trial exists, according to a survey of gynecologic cancer survivors. The most common reason survey respondents gave for not enrolling in clinical trials was that their medical team didn't tell them about any trials. Annie Ellis and Mary (Dicey) Jackson Scroggins – who are both patient advocates and ovarian cancer survivors – conducted this survey and presented the results at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer last year (https://bit.ly/3plI1Vg). Ms. Ellis discussed the survey results and other related research with host David H. Henry, MD, in this episode. Ms. Ellis and Ms. Scroggins distributed their 26-question survey online. The survey was completed by 189 survivors of gynecologic cancers. Most respondents (65.6%) had never participated in a clinical trial. Reasons for nonparticipation included: The medical team never discussed trial participation (50.4%) The patient didn’t qual