(Press-News.org) A radiotherapy regime involving higher doses of radiation is a better option than having lower doses for men with localised prostate cancer, the 10-year results of the largest trial of its kind have shown.
Having 37 rounds, or fractions, of radiotherapy at 74 Gray (Gy) – compared with 32 fractions at 64 Gy – controlled the disease more effectively and reduced the chance that men would need follow-up hormone-deprivation therapy, which can have long-term side-effects.
The findings, published in The Lancet Oncology today (Wednesday), come from the major RT01 phase III trial. The trial was led by Professor Dearnaley at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and was funded and conducted by the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit at UCL. The study also involved several leading clinical research centres in the UK, New Zealand and Australia.
The study also demonstrated the overall effectiveness of radiotherapy for men with localised disease. Almost three quarters of men treated with either the more or less intensive radiotherapy regimes were still alive after 10 years.
Set up in 1998, the trial split 843 men with localised prostate cancer into two groups to compare the two doses of radiotherapy. Some 421 men had the less and 422 the more intensive treatment regimes. Both groups also had standard hormone-deprivation treatment alongside their radiotherapy.
The five-year results of the trial have previously shown the benefits of dose-escalated radiotherapy, and played an influential role in changing NICE guidance to recommend it in prostate cancer. Dose escalation is now the norm for localised prostate cancer in the UK.
The new 10-year results further strengthen the evidence for choosing dose-escalation radiotherapy, as well as showing the long-term benefits of the treatment.
After 10 years, 55 per cent of men on the 37-fraction regime, compared with 43 per cent of men on the 32-fraction regime, had survived without their disease progressing into a more hazardous form, as measured by the standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. In each half of the study, 71 per cent of men were alive after 10 years and only 11 per cent had died from prostate cancer.
Men who received the higher dose were more likely to have side-effects associated with radiotherapy, but few men had severe side-effects. Receiving the higher dose reduced the need for follow-up hormone treatment, which also carries a risk of side-effects.
The trial did not show that men given dose-escalated radiotherapy live longer, but both groups of men lived much longer than expected. Almost three quarters of all the men in the study were still alive after 10 years, and of the 236 men who had died since treatment, only 91 had died of prostate cancer.
Study leader Professor David Dearnaley, Professor of Uro-Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Honorary Consultant at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said:
"Our study has proved that treating men with localised prostate cancer using higher doses of radiotherapy is more effective than a less intensive regime. The dose-escalated regime is safe in the long term, and reduces the chances that a cancer will return and men will require further hormone-deprivation treatment. The side-effects of hormone treatment do need to be balanced against those of the extra radiotherapy doses, but overall our study has shown men are better off after having the escalated regime, as is now the norm in the UK.
"Another key finding to come out of our study is that radiotherapy in general is both a safe and an effective treatment for localised prostate cancer. Almost three quarters of men treated with either the more or less intensive radiotherapy regimes are still alive after 10 years, and of the men who have died, less than half actually died from prostate cancer.
"Further refinements in radiotherapy techniques since our trial began have made treatment even safer and are very important as men with localised prostate cancer have such favourable long-term survival prospects."
Matthew Sydes, Senior Scientist and Statistician at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, said:
"The RT01 trial has already changed how men with localised prostate cancer are treated. The current NICE guidelines recommend the use of the higher dose of radiotherapy, based on the five-year results of RT01. The trial also helped to develop guidelines on how to limit the radiation that organs near the tumour receive, and helped hospitals across the UK to introduce quality-assured conformal radiotherapy. It is now contributing to biological studies to help better understand the disease and the side-effects of radiotherapy."
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Notes to Editors
For more information contact the ICR press office on 020 7153 5380 / henry.french@icr.ac.uk. For enquiries out of hours, please call 07976 751984.
Advance access to this The Lancet Oncology article is provided for media use only; if you wish to link to this study online, please use the following URL, which will go live when the embargo lifts: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(14)70040-3/abstract
The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is one of the world's most influential cancer research institutes.
Scientists and clinicians at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) are working every day to make a real impact on cancer patients' lives. Through its unique partnership with The Royal Marsden Hospital and 'bench-to-bedside' approach, the ICR is able to create and deliver results in a way that other institutions cannot. Together the two organisations are rated in the top four cancer centres globally.
The ICR has an outstanding record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. It provided the first convincing evidence that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer, laying the foundation for the now universally accepted idea that cancer is a genetic disease. Today it leads the world at isolating cancer-related genes and discovering new targeted drugs for personalised cancer treatment.
As a college of the University of London, the ICR provides postgraduate higher education of international distinction. It has charitable status and relies on support from partner organisations, charities and the general public.
The ICR's mission is to make the discoveries that defeat cancer. For more information visit http://www.icr.ac.uk
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
The Royal Marsden opened its doors in 1851 as the world's first hospital dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education.
Today, together with its academic partner, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), it is the largest and most comprehensive cancer centre in Europe treating over 50,000 NHS and private patients every year. It is a centre of excellence with an international reputation for groundbreaking research and pioneering the very latest in cancer treatments and technologies.
The Royal Marsden, with the ICR, is the only National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre for Cancer. First awarded the status in 2006, it was re-awarded in 2011. A total of £62 million is being provided over five years, to support pioneering research work, and is being shared out over eight different cancer themes.
The Royal Marsden also provides community services in the London boroughs of Sutton and Merton and in June 2010, along with the ICR, the Trust launched a new academic partnership with Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Middlesex.
Since 2004, the hospital's charity, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, has helped raise over £100 million to build theatres, diagnostic centres, and drug development units. Prince William became President of The Royal Marsden in 2007, following a long royal connection with the hospital. For more information, visit http://www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk
The Medical Research Council
Over the past century, the Medical Research Council has been at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers' money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health. Twenty-nine MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed.
Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. http://www.mrc.ac.uk
The MRC Centenary Timeline chronicles 100 years of life-changing discoveries and shows how our research has had a lasting influence on healthcare and wellbeing in the UK and globally, right up to the present day. http://www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk/
More intensive radiotherapy is better than less for localized prostate cancer
2014-02-26
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