For decades, a major goal of the Florida Radiation Oncology Group (FROG) has been to provide a superior level of clinical care in the community setting-a level of care meeting or exceeding that normally seen only in large academic institutions. One aspect of this superior care is the commitment to provide leading edge treatment programs available only in clinical research trials.

FROG has partnered with various federal programs such as the National Cancer Institute Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (NCI/CTEP), as well as with pharmaceutical and device manufacturers to bring options to our patients often years before they are commercially available. These clinical trials are focused on improving treatment outcomes and quality of life, as well as decreasing toxicity of treatment, and exploring the use of radiation therapy techniques in novel applications. Our FROG physicians not only participate in these efforts, but have often been pioneers in developing new devices and pioneering new treatment programs themselves as inventors, authors, and principal investigators in various research endeavors.

Each FROG clinic is an NCI/CTEP site for participation in cooperative group clinical trials. All physicians have active NCI Investigator status. Each center is involved with the Radiologic Physics Center (RPC) at MD Anderson Cancer Center for Quality Assurance Monitoring.

All centers are Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) Member Institutions under the American College of Radiology (ACR) as affiliates of Mayo Clinic-Rochester. All sites have been credentialed to participate in 3-D and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) trials (including Head & Neck and Lung sites) through RTOG and the Advanced Therapy Consortium (ATC). Certain sites are also credentialed to perform prostate brachytherapy and stereotactic radiosurgery trials.

All of the FROG sites are approved to deliver Partial Breast Irradiation (3-D conformal radiation therapy or intracavitary) for National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) trials, and FROG physicians are NSABP members.

Physicians are active in research through several NCI-funded Clinical Trial Groups including the RTOG, Children's Oncology Group (COG), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB), and the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). They are an approved site for total body irradiation (TBI) used in COG and ECOG transplant protocols.

In terms of our diagnostic imaging equipment, the FROG PET/CT scanner units are ACR accredited, and are also American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) credentialed. Finally, we are leading participants in the national Federal PET Registry Research Initiative.

In the end, our participation in research activities provides our patients with world-class leading edge care in terms of the latest thinking, technology, medications, and treatment techniques right in their home community. Not all patients are candidates for clinical trials, as studies for specific cancer types are continually opening and closing, but all patients are screened by our physicians and nurses to see if any open trials are available to them upon their initial and follow-up visits.

In addition, patients and families may call any FROG physician at any time to see if they or their loved one is eligible for an open trial—trial possibilities are updated monthly. Participation is voluntary, and does not cost the patient. It does, however, entail a commitment from the patient to come for regular follow-up visits during and after therapy so that the effectiveness of the treatment program can be precisely measured.

Also see Clinical Trials FAQs.