The Guardian/Sarah Boseley: Prostate cancer Prostate cancer: radiotherapy could extend thousands of lives, study finds

The Guardian
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer: radiotherapy could extend thousands of lives, study finds

Use alongside traditional treatment in advanced cases ‘could benefit 3,000 men in UK’

Sarah Boseley

Sun 21 Oct 2018 15.30 BST
Last modified on Sun 21 Oct 2018 16.35 BST

Shares
195
An oncologist at the Royal Marsden hospital in Surrey analyses an image of man’s prostate gland.
An oncologist at the Royal Marsden hospital in Surrey analyses an image of man’s prostate gland. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Radiotherapy could increase the chances of survival for thousands of men with prostate cancer that has already spread by the time they are diagnosed, new research suggests.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect men in the UK. About 47,000 are diagnosed every year and around 11,500 die. Significant numbers of men are not diagnosed until the cancer has spread, which reduces their chances of survival.

The standard treatment for advanced or metastatic prostate cancer is hormone therapy drugs. “Until now, it was thought that there was no point in treating the prostate itself if the cancer had already spread because it would be like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted,” said the lead researcher of the study, Dr Chris Parker of the Royal Marsden hospital in Surrey.

The trial, called Stampede and based at the Medical Research Council’s clinical trials unit at University College London, investigated what would happen among about 2,000 men with advanced cancer if they were given radiotherapy as well as drugs. Half were given standard treatment and half the standard treatment plus radiotherapy to the prostate.

Not everyone benefited. The radiotherapy did not help those whose cancers had spread more widely, but it did make a difference for those whose cancers had spread only locally into the nearby lymph nodes or bones. Of those men, 81% survived for three years, compared with 73% who did not get radiotherapy. The results were announced at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Munich and published online by the Lancet medical journal.

The improvement in survival may not seem large, but experts say it could benefit around 3,000 men in England and very many more worldwide. Radiotherapy also has the advantage of being a low-cost addition to their treatment.
Trials begin of a saliva test for prostate cancer
Read more

“Our results show a powerful effect for certain men with advanced prostate cancer. These findings could and should change standard of care worldwide,” Parker said. “Unlike many new drugs for cancer, radiotherapy is a simple, relatively cheap treatment that is readily available in most parts of the world.”

Prof Charles Swanton, the chief clinician of Cancer Research UK, which funded the trial, said: “This is a monumental finding that could help thousands of men worldwide. Stampede is making great strides in finding new ways to treat prostate cancer with previous results from the trial already changing clinical practice. Data released previously has led to docetaxel chemotherapy now being part of the standard of care for many men with prostate cancer.

“Adding radiotherapy to current treatment shows clear benefit for this subgroup of men with prostate cancer. We now need to investigate whether this could also work for other types of cancer. If we can understand exactly why these men benefit from the additional radiotherapy treatment, we could hopefully use this approach to benefit even more patients.”
Since you’re here…

… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our reporting as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

The Guardian is editorially independent, meaning we set our own agenda. Our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. No one edits our editor. No one steers our opinion. This is important because it enables us to give a voice to the voiceless, challenge the powerful and hold them to account. It’s what makes us different to so many others in the media, at a time when factual, honest reporting is critical.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $1, you can support the Guardian – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
Support The Guardian
Paypal and credit card
Topics

    Prostate cancer

    Cancer
    Men
    Health
    Medical research
    news

    Share on LinkedIn
    Share on Pinterest
    Share on Google+

Most viewed

    UK
    UK politics
    Education
    Media
    Society
    Law
    Scotland
    Wales
    Northern Ireland

back to top

    make a contribution
    subscribe
    securedrop
    help

    advertise with us
    work for us
    contact us
    complaints & corrections

    terms & conditions
    privacy policy
    cookie policy
    digital newspaper archive

    all topics
    all contributors
    Facebook
    Twitter

© 2018 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.