Monday, 25 November
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the UK. One in eight men will get prostate cancer, according to the Prostate Cancer UK and Movember charities, who say more research is vital to improve the odds of detecting the disease earlier and stop men dying too soon.
Frimley Health has been at forefront of prostate research and treatment for years, playing a key role in important studies to evolve patient healthcare.
“One example is the pioneering study PROMIS, which showed how amazingly good MRI was at detecting prostate cancer. Now everyone around the world uses MRI as a result of that trial,” said consultant urologist Simon Bott (pictured).
“We get asked to be part of a lot of different trials," he said. "We'd like to do more studies. Research is important, it improves patient care."
Simon is the Principal Investigator for two different prostate cancer trials being researched at the Trust. Both studies are looking to identify aggressive cancers.
“We know many men will get prostate cancer. Most will not be aggressive, but some people have aggressive cancers that we do need to find and treat,” he said. “We are trying to identify the tigers rather than the pussy cats.”
The Urine Biomarker study aims to identify clinically significant cancers at an early stage with a minimally invasive procedure. Biomarkers derived from prostate cancer cells are released into prostatic fluids and then into urine.
“We want to see if we can identify those who will develop life-threatening cancer from looking at the cells in urine,” said Simon.
The study could help with risk evaluation, and potentially reduce the number of men undergoing a prostate biopsy – a surgical procedure removing small amounts of tissue for lab testing – to reveal a low-risk prostate cancer.
Another option which could help reduce the need for biopsies is the PAIR-1 trial, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) based software to examine MRI scans for signs of prostate cancer. The AI could help specialists assess more scans more quickly, and is being studied to see how well the software works to find prostate cancer and whether it can spot any changes over time.
In terms of evolving future treatments, the PART study being researched at Frimley Health looks at treating cancer that only affects one side of the prostate.
The prostate gland has two lobes. You can get cancer in both or only one side. Radical treatment – such as surgery and internal or external radiotherapy – treats the whole prostate regardless of where the cancer is. Partial ablation treats only the side of the prostate where the cancer is. By treating just half the prostate you reduce the side effects men can sometimes get by treating the whole prostate gland.
The trial is studying two types of partial ablation treatment, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and irreversible electroporation (IRE), also called NanoKnife.
HIFU uses sound waves to heat up the cancer cells and destroy them. IRE uses pulses of electricity to make holes in the wall of the membranes surrounding the cancer to destroy the affected cells. Researchers think that only treating the side of the prostate that has cancer in it could reduce potential side effects, and want to learn how well IRE and HIFU work compared to radical treatment.
Prostate cancer has been in the national spotlight recently, with Olympian Chris Hoy revealing he has a terminal diagnosis for the disease and promoting efforts to get more men to take a PSA test.
“We always see an increase in testing when a public figure mentions it on the news,” said Simon. “Unfortunately, that only lasts for around four weeks. It needs to be at the forefront of men’s thinking for longer than that.”
Anyone concerned about prostate cancer can use Prostate Cancer UK’s online risk checker at www.prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker, or visit www.macmillan.org.uk for more information.