Evaluating Clincial Trials

Hi,
it will help me if you can tell me which clinical trial or trials you are interested in.
Systemic chemo agent s only or combined with radiation?
In general, 5FU and gemcitabine are the 2 first-line chemo agents used the most.Cisplatin,oxaliplatin,carboplatin(the platin group),epirubicin, irinotecan are the other agents being used too.
For systemic therapy clinical trials that are available,most of them are adding one or two molecularly targeted therapy agent(ie, all those agents the names ended with nib or mab) to the first-line agents to see whether the combo is more effective and/or produce less side effects.
But again, the most important thing is to know exactly what kind of CC first;where is it located and how advance the stage the tumor growth is.

" The role of systemic chemotherapy is evolving in patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma.No single chemotherapy agent or combination regimen consistently leads to tumor shrinkage,forestalls recurrent obstruction following palliative intervention." from the literature review version 19.1  revised on Jan.2011 : uptodate.com
From the patient's point of view,I do not think  it is our responsibility to choose which clinical trial for our self; for our knowledge is very limited.It  should be the responsibility of the oncologist, and other specialists to make the final call base on the  diagnosis  and findings they made.     
But we,as patient or caregiver,should learn as much as  possible,before,during and after the treatment;to question the specialists,the oncologists and other health professionals;to keep them on their toes and in return hoping that we have tried our best for our love ones and what we do will be of benefit  to others who are also suffer from this disease-it is for sure  a long and winding road that required courage and knowledge  to  navigate .
God bless.

Hi PCL1029,

I am looking in to clinicals that add one or more targetted therapy agents to chemos like you said. Ertlotonib etc. When ask local oncologist about possible clinical trials and targeted therapies, they have no suggestion of which may be relevant, what tests may be appropriate etc. When we went to Johns Hopkins the doctor mentioned clinical trials that they have going on there, but not those that are going on elsewhere that may or may not be more appropriate. So it seems that for clinical trials, it is something the patient has to do all the reseach themselves. So that is why trying to figure out how to research, determine which may be most likely to help. Or are there resources, other doctors who could do this kind of research and recommendation for us?

Kurt