Clinical Trials
Introduction
Clinical trials are research studies conducted in people to determine whether treatments are safe and effective. Clinical trials are the best way for researchers to find new ways to detect, slow, treat and hopefully someday prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Although many ideas about Alzheimer's treatment and prevention begin in the laboratory, the final stage of testing usually involves clinical studies. No treatment advances to clinical testing unless there is strong evidence indicating it will be as good or better than currently available therapies.
In early clinical studies, a treatment is tested for safety in a small group of volunteers. Later studies, which involve thousands of participants, test how well the treatment works for people. Hundreds of researchers are currently exploring potential methods of treating and preventing Alzheimer's in dozens of studies throughout the United States.
You can participate
Participating in research is an important personal decision. Treatment studies typically last at least several months, and prevention research can run for years.
Most treatment studies require the involvement of a caregiver as well as the person with the disease. And joining a study is not a surefire way to get an experimental drug, since most studies randomly assign participants to receive either the drug or an inactive treatment, called a placebo.
Still, many people find hope and comfort in participating. Others are motivated by the knowledge that they are contributing to scientific and medical research that will help people with Alzheimer's in the future.
If you are interested in taking part in a clinical study:
Next: Diagnosis
簡介
臨床試驗是在患者中進行的研究，旨在確定治療是否安全和有效。臨床試驗是研究人員尋找新的方法來檢測，延緩，治療並有望某一天預防阿滋海默症的最佳方法。
儘管與阿滋海默症治療和預防有關的許多想法是在實驗室中產生的，但試驗的最終階段通常涉及了臨床研究。除非有強有力的證據證明某一治療與現有療法一樣好或更好，否則不能對該治療進行臨床試驗。
早期臨床研究是在一小群志願者中試驗某一治療是否安全。涉及到數千參與者的後期研究試驗該治療對患者的有效程度如何。數百名研究人員目前正在全美國的數十項研究中探索治療和預防阿滋海默症的可能方法。
您可以參與
參與研究是一個重要的個人決定。治療研究一般至少持續數月，預防研究會持續數年。
大多數治療研究需要照護者以及阿滋海默症患者的參與。參與研究不一定會獲得實驗藥物，因為大多數研究隨機分配參與者獲得藥物或進行非積極治療（稱為安慰治療）。
仍有許多人在參與研究過程中尋找希望和安慰。在知道自己正在為將協助未來阿滋海默症患者的科學和醫學研究做貢獻後，其他一些人受到激勵參與研究。
如果您有興趣參與臨床研究：
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