- Researchers from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Research in London conducted a trial in men with prostate cancer to see whether 5 higher doses of radiation therapy could be as effective as 20 or more lower doses.
- While the 5 doses of radiation therapy exposed the men to higher doses of radiation daily, the overall amount of radiation exposure was less compared to what is administered over 20 or more doses.
- Not only were the 5 doses of multibeam therapy effective for keeping men cancer-free at their 5-year follow-up, but they also had a slight edge over the traditional 20-dose radiation therapy.
Prostate cancer affects hundreds of thousands of men in the U.S. yearly. According to the
While most men respond well to cancer treatments, prostate cancer remains the second most deadly cancer for men. One available cancer treatment for men is radiation therapy, which providers typically deliver in 20 to 39 doses over several weeks.
While radiotherapy is highly effective, some researchers wonder if there is room for improvement — specifically in terms of the treatment length.
Researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, United Kingdom, conducted a study called Prostate Advances in Comparative Evidence (PACE-B).
Their goal was to determine whether they could shorten the course of radiation therapy for prostate cancer by delivering higher multibeam radiotherapy doses.
The researchers presented their findings at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) conference on October 2, 2023.
During their presentation, the scientists revealed that not only was their higher-dose radiation therapy effective at keeping men cancer-free for 5 years, but it was also approximately 96% effective compared to around 95% for traditional therapy.
There are several
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