Patients with cancer may be eligible to participate in a clinical trial. Cancer treatment clinical trials are research studies designed to find better ways to treat cancer. Clinical trials often compare the most accepted cancer treatment ( standard treatment ) with a new treatment doctors hope will be better. Clinical trials test many types of treatment, such as new drugs, new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, new combinations of treatments, or new methods such as gene therapy. What doctors learn in these trials helps people with cancer now and in the future.