1. What is the primary purpose of the clinical trial, to help cure patients or to advance medical knowledge?

2. What phase is the trial‹I, II or III? The earlier the phase, the more experimental the procedure or treatment.

3. What are the known risks? And what can your doctor tell you about potential side effects?

4. Is your doctor's center the only one conducting the trial, or are there others involved? If the other centers are further along in the trial, ask for a synopsis of the experience of those patients.

5. What procedures are there for reporting problems, ill effects or sudden changes? Is the contact person available 24 hours a day by cell phone or pager?

6. What is the track record of the primary investigator? How long has he or she been conducting trials?

Signing Up
Most of the information you need can be found on a few key websites

www.centerwatch.com
Lists more than 41,000 industry- and government-sponsored clinical trials as well as new drug therapies recently approved by the FDA. Check out Informed Consent, a consumer guide.

www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui
The National Institutes of Health maintains the most authoritative source for patients and the public. The site also has links to other information resources like the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINEplus.

www.cancer.gov/clinical_trials
The National Cancer Institute's comprehensive site is great for finding cancer trials and keeping track of cancer-research results.

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