A local nonprofit dedicated to informing the public about clinical trials has seen a spike in Web site traffic since U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer last month.
Ken Getz, founder of the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research, said the senator's surgery on what doctors initially said was an inoperable tumor, has drawn attention to experimental drugs and procedures.
After being diagnosed with a malignant glioma, a lethal type of brain tumor, Kennedy flew to Duke University Medical Center to undergo a risky procedure Monday by expert neurosurgeon Dr. Allan Friedman.
Friedman said the operation was successful, although doctors have not disclosed how much of the tumor was removed, according to the Associated Press.
Kennedy will return to Massachusetts for radiation and chemotherapy next week, and may be treated with such experimental drugs as Avastin, which is designed to cut blood flow to the tumor, according to the AP.
"What we see is that Sen. Kennedy and his family have done the right things," he said. "They've surrounded themselves by family and friends who assisted them in doing their homework ... They're really doing what we advocate for every person - do your homework. We call it education before participation."
Getz, who researches clinical trial participation at Tufts University, wants people to know that although they may not have access to the team of medical experts that Kennedy has assembled, there are plenty of places where they can turn for information.
The center's Web site, ciscrp.org, received 36,299 visitors in May, up 21 percent from the 30,010 users who visited the site in April.
The organization makes medical experts, health screenings and educational resources available for free to the public at Aware for All events across the country. The next event will be at Simmons College in Boston on June 28.
Getz also recommends patient advocacy groups, the National Institute of Health's clinicaltrials.gov, and search engines such as his organization's nationwide database searchclinicaltrials.org.
Over the past year, the number of visitors to searchclinicaltrials.org has jumped from a few thousand to more than 20,000 each month, Getz said.
"If there's one thing you can say about the public and the clinical research community, when they do decide to look into something, they really go crazy finding information," said Getz, who believes people are relying more on online research than referrals from physicians.
