PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

High cure rate, low toxicity maintained with shortened radiation treatment for intermediate risk prostate cancer, study finds

Phase III trial finds treatment with fewer, higher doses of radiation offers promising alternative for patients with locally advanced disease

2023-09-29
(Press-News.org) ARLINGTON, Va., September 29, 2023 — People with intermediate risk, localized prostate cancer can be treated as effectively using fewer and higher doses of radiation therapy delivered over five treatment sessions as they can with lower doses delivered over several weeks, a new phase III randomized trial suggests. The findings, which are the latest from a series of studies investigating the benefits of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for people diagnosed with prostate cancer, will be presented Monday at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.

The PACE B (Prostate Advances in Comparative Evidence) study found SBRT performed as well as standard treatment with moderately fractionated radiation for people whose prostate cancer had not spread, demonstrating a five-year 96% disease control rate, compared to 95% for conventional radiation.

“The outcomes for patients in both study arms were better than we expected” said principal investigator for the trial Nicholas van As, MD, a consultant clinical oncologist and Medical Director of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and a professor at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. “To be able to sit with a patient and say, ‘We can treat you with a low toxicity treatment in five days, and your chance of keeping the cancer at bay for five years is 96%, it’s a positive conversation to have.”

Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the U.S., second only to skin cancer for male patients. There are approximately 288,300 new cases each year, with rates rising roughly 3% each year since 2014. “As patient volumes rise, substantially reducing the number of times a patient needs to visit a cancer treatment center frees up valuable resources, allowing our radiation oncology teams to treat more patients in less time,” said Prof. van As.

Most prostate cancers are diagnosed before the cancer has grown beyond the prostate gland. The primary treatment options for localized prostate cancer include active surveillance, radiation therapy or surgery to remove the prostate gland.

SBRT is an advanced form of radiation therapy that shrinks or destroys tumors with fewer, higher doses of radiation delivered in a small number of outpatient sessions. This approach uses advanced imaging and treatment planning techniques to deliver radiation with pinpoint accuracy, minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Patients who choose radiation therapy for intermediate-risk prostate cancer typically receive treatment in 20 daily doses, or fractions, and up to 40, while SBRT is typically given in five or fewer outpatient treatment sessions.

“There’s a lot of evidence now that prostate cancer actually responds better to a large fraction size given over a shorter period of time,” he said. “We’ve demonstrated now that the accelerated course is as effective as the protracted course.”

PACE B was a multi-center, international phase III randomized controlled study to investigate whether SBRT was non-inferior to conventional radiation for treating people with intermediate risk, localized prostate cancer. Non-inferiority was measured by whether patients remained free of biochemical clinical failure (BCF), defined as an increase in PSA levels, distant metastases or other evidence the cancer was returning, or death from prostate cancer.

Drawing from 38 centers across the UK and Canada, PACE B researchers enrolled 874 people who preferred radiation treatment or were unsuitable for surgery. The median age was 69.8 years old.

Patients were randomly assigned to receive either SBRT (n=443) consisting of five fractions over one to two weeks (36.25 Gy total dose), or standard radiation (n=441) consisting of 39 fractions over 7.5 weeks (78 Gy) or 20 fractions over four weeks (62 Gy). None of the patients received hormonal therapy. Median follow-up was 73.1 months.

Five years after treatment, people treated with SBRT had a BCF-event free rate of 95.7% (93.2% - 97.3%), compared to 94.6% (91.9% - 96.4%) for those treated with conventional radiation, demonstrating that SBRT was non-inferior to CRT (90% CI, p-value for non-inferiority=0.007).

Side effects were low in both groups, and not significantly different between treatment arms. At five years post-treatment, 5.5% of patients who received SBRT experienced grade 2 or higher side effects affecting the genital or urinary organs, compared to 3.2% in the conventional group (p=0.14). Only one person in each arm of the study experienced grade 2 or higher gastrointestinal side effects (p=0.99).

“Standard radiation treatment is already highly effective and is very well tolerated in people with localized prostate cancer,” Prof. van As said. “But for a healthcare system and for patients, to have this treatment delivered just as effectively in five days as opposed to four weeks has huge implications.”

Though he expected SBRT to be non-inferior to conventional radiation, Prof. van As said he was surprised at the level of disease control they were able to demonstrate. He attributed the high rates to improvements in image-guidance and technologies to deliver radiation in recent years.

“One of the things this study demonstrated is that outcomes of high-quality radiation therapy are outstanding,” he said. “We’ve become much more precise at tracking and reaching the targets. We’re able to put high doses of radiation in the right place and avoid putting high doses in areas we don’t want it.”

He cautioned the results could not be extrapolated to all people with prostate cancer. “Ninety percent of our patients were intermediate risk, but they were the better end of intermediate risk,” he said. “These results do not apply to people with higher-risk cancer.”

Prof. van As’ team is also examining the use of SBRT for patients with higher-risk disease. The PACE trials (NCT01584258) include three studies investigating the benefits of SBRT for people with localized prostate cancer. PACE A compared patient’s quality of life following SBRT or prostate surgery, finding fewer urinary and sexual side effects from SBRT but a higher risk for minor bowel problems. PACE C, which has completed accrual, investigates how well SBRT works for people with intermediate and high-risk prostate cancer who are also being treated with hormone therapy.

In the meantime, Prof. van As said, people with intermediate risk prostate cancer should be given the option of SBRT as an alternative to longer courses of radiation or prostate surgery.

###

Attribution to the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting is requested in all coverage.

See this study presented:

5-Year Outcomes from PACE B: An International Phase III Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) vs. Conventionally Fractionated or Moderately Hypofractionated External Beam Radiotherapy for Localized Prostate Cancer (LBA 03) News Briefing: Tuesday, October 3, 9:00 a.m. Pacific time. Details here. Register here. Scientific Presentation: Plenary session, Monday, October 2, 2023, 2:10 p.m. Pacific time, San Diego Convention Center. Email press@astro.org for access to the live stream or recording. View the press kit for the 2023 ASTRO Annual Meeting at www.astro.org/annualmeetingpress.

ABOUT ASTRO

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with nearly 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. For information on radiation therapy, visit RTAnswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit our website and media center and follow us on social media.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

True progression or pseudoprogression in glioblastoma patients?

True progression or pseudoprogression in glioblastoma patients?
2023-09-29
MIAMI, FLORIDA (STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL SEPT. 29, 2023 AT 5PM ET) – Is it true progression or pseudoprogression in tumor growth? That’s the critical question for radiation and medical oncologists treating patients with glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. Distinguishing between these types of progression is vitally important for treatment management. “Knowing if it’s true progression, indicative of a poor response to treatment, or pseudoprogression, a favorable response that may look worse due to swelling or tumor necrosis, is essential for clinicians,” said Eric Mellon, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist and researcher ...

ASTRO 2023 Session shines spotlight on physician burnout

ASTRO 2023 Session shines spotlight on physician burnout
2023-09-29
MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL SEPT. 29, 2023, AT 5 PM ET, 2023) – Physician burnout was already a trending topic within the medical community before 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought national attention to the issue. Typical stressors such as long hours, poor work-life balance, frustrating insurance denials and cumbersome medical documentation were compounded by new challenges from a novel, deadly virus that killed millions worldwide and necessitated a paradigm shift in care delivery. The side effects were widespread and readily apparent. By late 2021, research by the American Medical Association, Mayo Clinic and Stanford ...

Embargoed Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center ASTRO 2023 Tip Sheet

2023-09-29
ALL INFORMATION EMBARGOED UNTIL 5 P.M. ET ON SEPT. 29, 2023   Panel Discussion Getting it All Done – Strategies for Coping With Professional Burnout Crystal Seldon Taswell, MD, Sylvester radiation oncologist and researcher, will co-moderate a panel discussion on physician burnout within radiation oncology and medicine. The discussion, titled “Getting It All Done -- Practical Strategies at All Career Stages,” will include background on the extent of the problem, as well as the curriculum gap for residents regarding time management, balancing ...

University of Cincinnati radiation oncology experts present at national conference

University of Cincinnati radiation oncology experts present at national conference
2023-09-29
University of Cincinnati Cancer Center researchers will present abstracts at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting, held Oct. 1-4 in San Diego.  Lattice therapy shows promise for safer, more effective treatment  In standard radiation treatment, entire tumors receive the same dose of radiation. Cancer Center researchers including Andrew Frankart, MD, are testing the application of a different method called lattice therapy, and he will present three posters detailing research into lattice therapy ...

MD Anderson Research Highlights: ASTRO 2023 Special Edition

2023-09-29
SAN DIEGO ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. This special edition features presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the 2023 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting. Information on all MD Anderson ASTRO Annual Meeting content can be found at MDAnderson.org/ASTRO. Read ...

University of Virginia team’s research offers hope for pulmonary fibrosis patients

University of Virginia team’s research offers hope for pulmonary fibrosis patients
2023-09-29
Using a new recipe for growing blood vessels from living lung tissue in the lab, a University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science research team has developed an analytical tool that could lead to a cure for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, a lung-destroying disease. Fibrosis is chronic scarring of tissue and it can strike nearly every system in the body. According to the National Institutes of Health, the government estimates that 45% of deaths in the United States can be attributed to fibrotic disorders. In the lungs, fibrosis restricts breathing, so understanding how scarring occurs, and ultimately how to stop it, ...

Department of Energy funds new center for decarbonization of steelmaking

Department of Energy funds new center for decarbonization of steelmaking
2023-09-29
Center to develop cost-effective method for decarbonized manufacturing for steelmaking without a blast furnace. Steel has a major impact on everyone’s lives and our economy. It is crucial to cars, trucks, airplanes, buildings and more. However, there is a significant issue with its production process. Globally, it accounts for a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced $19 million in funding over four years for DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory ...

New criteria to assess progression in glioma aims to speed discovery of new medicines

2023-09-29
Study Title: RANO 2.0: Update to the Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology Criteria for High- and Low-Grade Gliomas in Adults Publication: Journal of Clinical Oncology Dana-Farber Cancer Institute author: Patrick Y. Wen, MD Summary: In order to accurately assess the efficacy of novel therapies for brain tumors it is necessary to have reliable criteria to determine response or progression. Response assessment in brain tumors is difficult because of the irregular shapes of the tumors and the fact that many therapies used to treat these tumors can also produce imaging changes that resemble tumor ...

NPS team makes key breakthrough on path to electric aircraft propulsion

NPS team makes key breakthrough on path to electric aircraft propulsion
2023-09-29
As an institution renowned for innovation efforts grounded in education and research, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) has often been called upon to tackle some of the most difficult technological challenges facing the Navy and the nation. Such a challenge emerged in 2020, when NASA charged NPS and two other research teams with solving a critical barrier facing the development of electric aircraft propulsion (EAP): the creation of a circuit breaker that could support large electric platforms running on direct current (DC) electricity. Thanks to the efforts of a diverse team of faculty and students, as well as several Navy and academic research partners, NPS delivered ...

Berkeley Lab awarded two new centers to counter climate change

Berkeley Lab awarded two new centers to counter climate change
2023-09-29
The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will host two new centers dedicated to advancing clean energy technology and combating climate change. The awards are part of DOE’s Energy Earthshots Initiative that launched in 2021 with the goal of speeding up technological breakthroughs and lowering costs.  DOE has so far launched seven Earthshots spanning clean energy and carbon reduction technologies. The Berkeley Lab programs announced today will address two of them: the Hydrogen ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

DGIST restores the performance of quantum dot solar cells as if “flattening crumpled paper!”

Hoarding disorder: ‘sensory CBT’ treatment strategy shows promise

Water fluoridation less effective now than in past

Toddlers get nearly half their calories from ultra-processed foods

Detroit researchers to examine links between bacterial infections, environmental pollution and preterm birth

In lab tests, dietary zinc inhibits AMR gene transmission

Two UMD Astronomy space probes advance to next round of $1 billion NASA mission selection

New MSU research sheds light on impact and bias of voter purging in Michigan

Funding to create world's first ovarian cancer prevention vaccine

Scientists develop novel method for strengthening PVC products

Houston Methodist part of national consortium to develop vaccine against herpesviruses

UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry earns first NIH grant under new center for pain therapeutics and addiction research

Do MPH programs prepare graduates for employment in today's market? Mostly yes, but who is hiring may be surprising

New article provides orientation to using implementation science in policing

Three beer-related discoveries to celebrate Oktoberfest

AAAS launches user research project to inform the new AAAS.org

In odd galaxy, NASA's Webb finds potential missing link to first stars

Adding beans and pulses can lead to improved shortfall nutrient intakes and a higher diet quality in American adults

What happens in the brain when a person with schizophrenia “hears voices”?

Ant agriculture began 66 million years ago in the aftermath of the asteroid that doomed the dinosaurs

A new era of solar observation

The true global impact of species-loss caused by humans is far greater than expected – new study reveals

Smartphone-assisted “scavenger hunt” identifies people at risk for dementia

Green subsidies may have hidden costs, experts warn

Small brains can accomplish big things, according to new theoretical research

UTA professor honored for science education leadership

Decline of mpox antibody responses after modified vaccinia Ankara–Bavarian Nordic vaccination

Wider use of convalescent plasma might have saved thousands more lives during pandemic

Strong coupling between Andreev qubits mediated by a microwave resonator

UNF biological sciences professor receives NIH grant to study muscle atrophy

[Press-News.org] High cure rate, low toxicity maintained with shortened radiation treatment for intermediate risk prostate cancer, study finds
Phase III trial finds treatment with fewer, higher doses of radiation offers promising alternative for patients with locally advanced disease