Prevention Research Studies
Over 3,000 participants have enrolled in cancer prevention studies since Lifetime opened in 1993. Cancer prevention trials are different from traditional clinical trials because most of the participants are people who have never been diagnosed with cancer and are fairly healthy individuals. Research will ultimately help future generations avoid cancer, but can also help individuals today as we develop new technologies and expand our knowledge of lifestyle effects on cancer.
Some of the areas we are currently studying which you may be interested in participating include:
General Cancer Risk and Prevention:
Cancer and its related complications account for a loss of more than a half million American lives each year. Over the past few decades, we have learned a lot about the risk factors for the disease. It has been estimated that lifestyle factors, such as use of tobacco products, aspects of diet, obesity, lack of physical activity, unprotected exposure to the sun and a growing number of viruses account for approximately 50% of the variance in disease incidence. This large study is looking at the risk factors for cancer.
Skin cancer prevention:
The purpose of this study is to find out why some people get skin cancer and others do not. One factor that we are very interested in studying is a type of skin infection called Human Papillomavirus (HPV). We want to study whether having this virus is related to getting skin cancer.
Cervical cancer prevention:
Cervical cancer continues to remain a major public health problem and is the second leading cause of cancer among women worldwide. This study is studying the association between the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. This study is important because it studies the biology of aging and cancer.
Human Papillomavirus in Men:
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is strongly linked with the development of cervical cancer in women and penile and anal cancers in men. The goal of this research is to further our understanding of the natural history of HPV infection in men so that effective programs can be developed to reduce HPV cancer burden in both men and women.
Quit smoking treatment program:
The purpose of this study is to test a novel version of a behavioral treatment for smoking cessation called cue exposure therapy.
Ongoing Research studies (These studies are closed to new participants)
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Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR Trial):
The Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) is a clinical trial designed to see how the drug raloxifene (Evista®) compares with the drug tamoxifen (Nolvadex®) in reducing the incidence of breast cancer in women who are at an increased risk of developing the disease. This study is closed to new participants, but we are continuing to follow patients at Lifetime. This study started at Lifetime in 1999 and enrolled a total of 156 participants.
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Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT):
The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) is a research study to determine if selenium and vitamin E can help prevent prostate cancer. This study is closed to new participants, but we are continuing to follow patients at Lifetime. It started at Lifetime in 2000 and enrolled a total of 138 participants.
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National Lung Screening Trial (NLST):
NLST is comparing two ways of detecting lung cancer: spiral computed tomography (CT) and standard chest X-ray. This study will aim to show if either test is better at reducing deaths from this disease. This study is closed to new participants, but we are continuing to follow patients at Lifetime. It started at Lifetime in 2002 and enrolled 803 participants total.
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Digital Mammography Screening Trial (DMIST):
The purpose of this study was to find out whether digital mammography is as good as, or better than, conventional screen-film mammography. This study is closed to new participants. It started at Lifetime in 2003 and enrolled a total of 197 participants.