Other questions you may want to ask

What if I want to stop the trial treatment?

Even after you have given your consent and have begun your involvement with a clinical trial, you can stop the treatment at any time. Withdrawing from the trial treatment will not affect your relationship with the doctors and nurses, or your overall care, in any way. You will still continue to be monitored by the trial staff and information will still be passed on to the Medical Research Council.

What if I need another type of treatment?

If, at any time during or after the trial, you need another type of treatment, such as nerve blocks or oxygen, your doctor can prescribe this for you.

How long will the trial last?

The trial could take several years to produce final results. If you have been chosen to have chemotherapy as part of the trial, once it has ended your doctor will continue to give you the treatment that seems best for you. Once you are taking part in this trial your doctor will continue to collect information about your progress and general health.

Who is running and funding the MSO1 trial?

The trial is being funded by Cancer Research UK, organised and run by the Medical Research Council and supported by the British Thoracic Society.

A group of doctors and researchers not involved in the study will review the trial at regular intervals to ensure that it is ethical and safe to continue.

What if new information becomes available?

Sometimes during the course of a research trial new information about treatment becomes available. If this happens the researchers may decide that the trial should be either stopped or changed in some way.

If any such information becomes available, your doctor will tell you about this and will discuss with you whether you want to stay in the study if it is continued.

If you decide to leave the trial you will still receive care and appropriate treatment from your doctors. If you decide to remain in the trial, whether it has been changed or not, you may be asked to sign an updated consent form.

What if something goes wrong?

It is unlikely that anything will go wrong with your treatment or care, but if you wish to complain about any aspect of the way you have been treated during the course of the study you can do so using the normal NHS complaints procedure. Each hospital has a leaflet outlining the procedure that you can follow if you would like to make a complaint.

Although Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council are running the trial, the hospital in which you are treated would be liable for any negligence on the part of the hospital staff. In the unlikely event that you are harmed by someone’s negligence you would be able to claim compensation by following the usual hospital complaints procedure.