Radiotherapy is a crucial treatment for prostate cancer, utilizing high doses of radiation to destroy cancer cells with the aim of curing patients.
This approach is as effective as surgery in most cases. However, there remains a challenge of the disease spreading beyond the prostate to other parts of the body, such as bones, lungs, and liver.
To address this challenge, Dr. Isabel Syndikus is leading an important clinical trial at Clatterbridge called PIVOTAL Boost.
Since 2018, Dr. Syndikus and her team have been measuring the impact of providing an additional twenty radiotherapy treatments to high-risk patients. These “boost” doses are precisely targeted to the prostate, aiming to offer better disease control and improve long-term survival compared to today’s standard treatment.
The trial has successfully recruited over 2,200 patients from the UK and Ireland and is set to conclude in the summer of 2024. Thanks to your support, this vital work is progressing to the next stage. Designing these additional radiation doses is complex and requires a higher degree of skill, which can be a barrier to widespread adoption across the UK. Dr. Syndikus is confident that this can be overcome by developing an artificial intelligence system to “read” patient MRI scans and integrate this with clinical information to produce highly detailed images of the affected prostate. This innovation will make it much easier for doctors to plan and administer these potentially life-saving boost treatments.
Your support is crucial in advancing this research and improving outcomes for high-risk prostate cancer patients. Together, we can make a significant difference in the fight against prostate cancer.
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