Valuable Guidance in a Difficult Time

When a cancer diagnosis turns life upside down, many patients begin an often long journey through treatment, uncertainty and questions. In addition to regular therapy, clinical trials offer an important opportunity: they provide access to new, promising treatment options - often years before they become widely available.

Orientation in a Stressful Phase of Life

To make it easier for patients in Bavaria to find their way to such studies, the Bavarian Centre for Cancer Research (BZKF) has set up a central study registry for Bavaria. Since its launch in November 2022, the service has been growing steadily - around 1,000 clinical oncological studies are now recorded and accessible to all interested parties via the website studien.bzkf.de .

In order to facilitate access to these studies for patients and doctors, more than 1,700 contact details for the currently recruiting studies are stored in the BZKF study register.

The trial register serves as a valuable orientation aid in an often stressful phase of life. Studies can be filtered by disease, place of residence or type of treatment via the study register - simply and clearly. Anyone wishing to be included in a study can find out in advance about the requirements and find out at which clinics the respective study is being conducted.

Hope Through Cancer Research

"Whether it's new drugs, help against side effects or psychological support - behind every study is potential progress. Trials can mean real opportunities for patients. Anyone who is unsure about finding suitable studies should ask the treatment team for help - because doctors are also called upon to actively use and pass on such information," says Professor Claus Belka, Deputy Director of the BZKF and Director of the Department of Radiotherapy at LMU Klinikum München.

"The development of new drugs and therapies is based on innovative preclinical research and clinical trials. The Early Clinical Trial Units (ECTU) of the BZKF play a decisive role here by enabling the safe application of experimental cancer treatment. The BZKF trial register provides a clear and comprehensible overview of the various trials," explains Dr Maria-Elisabeth Goebeler, Head Senior Physician of the Interdisciplinary Study Centre with ECTU.

Further Services and Contact

In addition to the study register, the BZKF also offers the BürgerTelefonKrebs. Patients can call the free telephone number 0800 85 100 80 to ask questions about cancer. For questions about clinical trials, the Early Clinical Trial Units team can be contacted by e-mail at BZKF_ECTU_Koordination@ukw.de.

The Bavarian Centre for Cancer Research

The BZKF was founded in November 2019 with the aim of giving all citizens in Bavaria access to innovative therapies, regardless of where they live. The merger of the six Bavarian university hospitals in Augsburg, Erlangen, the two sites in Munich, Regensburg and Würzburg promotes cancer research and pools knowledge on the topics of early detection, treatment and aftercare of tumour diseases.