Using software developed by Carnegie Mellon University, the UPMC Cancer Center and a private firm have started an interactive Web site designed to help connect breast cancer patients to clinical trials and provide online responses to patients' questions.
Patients will be able to type in questions and be connected to video responses from a team of cancer center experts including Dr. Samuel Jacobs, associate director of clinical investigations at UPMC's Hillman Cancer Center.
Virginia Pribanic of MedRespond LLC, the private firm, said patients also will be able to access interviews or video clips from fellow patients who already have undergone treatment. Pribanic noted that a very small number of adult cancer patients -- between 2 percent and 3 percent -- participate in clinical trials.
In addition to Jacobs, those featured on the Web site include Dr. Dwight Heron, director of radiation oncology services, and Dr. Marguerite Bonventura, assistant professor in UPMC's division of surgical oncology.
Jacobs said the Web site's development began three years ago with a grant from the National Cancer Institute. He said efforts to recruit patients for trials with a lecture series had mixed results, and "we weren't really reaching a large number of people." He said the site was seen as a way to eliminate barriers to wider participation.
"We felt that if we had a good tool, it would educate patients and alleviate anxiety," he said.
Jacobs said he and his colleagues first tried to develop the interactive site themselves but soon realized it required special expertise. They turned to MedRespond, a South Side firm that has developed similar products for other health-related interests.
According to those involved in the design of the program, a study will be conducted to compare patient satisfaction and response to the interactive system as compared to a control group of patients who learn about four breast cancer clinical trials through traditional means, such as brochures and other written materials.
To access the site go to www.upmccancercenters.com/trials/ and click on the "Meet Ask Understand" icon.
Plans call for 50 patients to be placed in the control group over the next six months and 50 patients directed to the Web site, Jacobs said. Eventually, he said, organizers hope the site can be expanded to include other cancers.
In addition to the cancer institute grant, funding for the project came from pharmaceutical firms including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis and Eli Lilly.
Walter F. Roche Jr. can be reached at wroche@tribweb.com or 412-320-7894. To see more of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review