Will you definitely find me a trial?

That cannot be promised. In uncommon diseases there are stretches with nothing open that fits, and that is said plainly too. What can be assured is that the search is done by someone who knows the trials in this field and can read inclusion criteria — which is exactly where a patient searching alone gets stuck.

Does joining a trial mean I might get a placebo?

In oncology a treatment is almost never compared against nothing. The usual design compares standard treatment against standard plus something new, so every participant receives at least what they would receive outside the trial. Each protocol states this, and it is one of the things reviewed.

I live far away, or outside Spain. Does this still work?

Yes. The review is done on documentation, so distance does not prevent it, and many trials accept patients referred from other hospitals or other countries, coordinating follow-up with the local team.

Is this the same as a second opinion?

They go together. Knowing which trials fit means understanding the case properly, so in practice the review is the same one: what the disease is exactly, what has already been done, and what options remain — inside a trial and outside one.

Clinical trials

Is there a clinical trial for my case?

If you have been told there is no treatment left, or you know trials exist but not which or where, send me the case and I will point you.

Clinical trials sit in public registries, so in theory anyone can search them. In practice that does not work: the registries are in English, in a vocabulary that is not the one used in clinic, and they return lists of dozens of studies without telling you which have criteria you actually meet.

That filtering is the work, and it is what I do when someone sends me their case. It is not about handing over a list: it is about telling you what is being tested today in your specific disease, which of it fits your situation, where it runs and how to get there.

In peritoneal disease and sarcoma this matters more than in other tumours, because they are uncommon: there may be nothing open in your country and three trials elsewhere in Europe, and that is not something a patient finds alone in an afternoon.

What you get

A review of what is open in your disease at the time of the search, with three things for each trial that might fit: what is being tested, where it runs, and the specific criterion that would have to be confirmed to know whether you qualify.

And, where one exists, the route in: whom to write to and what your doctor needs to send. In rare cancers there are European referral networks — EURACAN among them — built precisely so that a patient in one country can reach a centre in another.

If nothing fits, that is said too. It is a useful answer: it closes a search that otherwise eats weeks.

Why to ask early rather than at the end

This is the commonest and the costliest mistake. Many trials require that certain treatments have not been given before, so every line of chemotherapy that passes can close doors that were open.

Trials are not a last resort. There are trials in first line, in operable disease, and in settings where standard treatment works reasonably well. Looking early leaves more options than looking when nothing else is left.

What this is not

It is not enrolment, nor a promise of a place in any study. Inclusion criteria are applied by the team running the trial, with the clinical records in front of them, and they are strict.

Nor does it replace your oncologist. Quite the opposite: what comes out of this is meant to be taken to them, because the referral has to come from your own team.

And it does not cover treatments offered outside a trial. If someone offers you an “experimental” therapy with no protocol, no ethics committee and no registry number, that is not a clinical trial — and the difference matters a great deal.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask about trials

Will you definitely find me a trial?: That cannot be promised. In uncommon diseases there are stretches with nothing open that fits, and that is said plainly too. What can be assured is that the search is done by someone who knows the trials in this field and can read inclusion criteria — which is exactly where a patient searching alone gets stuck.
Does joining a trial mean I might get a placebo?: In oncology a treatment is almost never compared against nothing. The usual design compares standard treatment against standard plus something new, so every participant receives at least what they would receive outside the trial. Each protocol states this, and it is one of the things reviewed.
Do I have to stop my current treatment?: It depends on the trial, and that is precisely a reason to ask early: some studies require that certain treatments have not been given before. Nothing is changed without discussing it with your oncologist.
I live far away, or outside Spain. Does this still work?: Yes. The review is done on documentation, so distance does not prevent it, and many trials accept patients referred from other hospitals or other countries, coordinating follow-up with the local team.
Is this the same as a second opinion?: They go together. Knowing which trials fit means understanding the case properly, so in practice the review is the same one: what the disease is exactly, what has already been done, and what options remain — inside a trial and outside one.

Sources

Trials are searched in the public registries: ClinicalTrials.gov (U.S. National Library of Medicine) and the Spanish Registry of Clinical Studies (REec) of the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices.
Referral routes in rare cancers: the EURACAN European reference network, and TARPSWG for retroperitoneal sarcoma.

How to request a second opinion Peritoneal carcinomatosis Retroperitoneal sarcoma

Would you like your case reviewed?

Send imaging and reports ahead of the visit. If there is a trial that fits, that assessment is the fastest way to find out.

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