Navigating Your Mammogram: Essential FAQs from a Nurse Practitioner
OCT 16, 2025A Nurse Practitioner answers your essential mammogram questions. Understand timing, prep, the procedure, callbacks, and financial options.
Read MoreClinical Trials are research studies that involve people. Through clinical trials, doctors find new ways to improve treatments and the quality of life for people with certain diseases.
Researchers design cancer clinical trials to test new ways to:
Placebos are almost never used in cancer treatment trials, in some cases, a study may compare standard treatment plus a new treatment, to standard treatment plus a placebo.
Clinical trials have a strict eligibility criteria including certain cell types, having received certain therapy in the past, or being a certain age group. Having specific criteria also helps to ensure patient safety as well as accurate and meaningful results. Patients must give their consent to participate in a clinical trial and will be monitored closely throughout the process.
Clinical trials have a principal investigator and a plan for the trial called a protocol. The protocol explains the following:
As with any treatment option, a clinical trial has possible benefits as well as drawbacks. Potential benefits include having more treatment options, being among the first to benefit if a trial proves to be successful, helping others by contributing to research that improves cancer treatment and having a care team with experienced research nurses. Potential risks include unexpected side effects, receiving a new treatment that may not prove to be more successful than a standard treatment.
Today, people are living longer lives from successful cancer treatments that are the results of past clinical trials. Through clinical trials doctors determine whether new treatments are safe and effective and work better than current treatments.
CHI Health is part of a NCORP (a national network of investigators, cancer care providers and other institutions that bring cancer clinical trials and cancer care research to a people so that they can be treated in their local communities).
CHI Health currently participates in over 130 cancer clinical trials to find better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. If you have any questions about our clinical trials, visit our website or call (308) 865-7963.
A Nurse Practitioner answers your essential mammogram questions. Understand timing, prep, the procedure, callbacks, and financial options.
Read MoreRadiotherapy is a finely tuned, powerful partner that can work with your surgery to give you the best possible outcome for breast cancer.
Read MoreNurse Practitioner busts common mammogram myths! Get factual answers on pain, radiation safety, dense breasts, and early breast cancer detection.
Read MoreWhen you need local health information from a trusted source, turn to the CHI Health Better You eNewsletter.