SOUTH Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has reached an important milestone by recruiting their 100th patient to a leading-edge cancer trial.
Two years ago (November 2015), The James Cook University Hospital became the first in the North of England to start recruiting patients to the Prostate Advances in Comparative Evidence (PACE) trial.
The study is for men who have been diagnosed with organ confined prostate cancer, which means the cancer has not grown outside the prostate gland, and compares conventional radiotherapy or surgery with stereotactic radiotherapy where treatment is delivered over a much shorter period of time.
The aim of the trial is to compare the different treatments to find out:
How long men live after each treatment without any sign of their cancer coming back and;
More about the side effects of each treatment
The Middlesbrough hospital is currently one of the highest recruiters to the trial across the United Kingdom and is second only to The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust where the study is led.
Consultant in Radiotherapy and Oncology, Dr Hans van der Voet, who has consented over 50 of the 100 patients to the trial, said: “This exciting development gives patients the opportunity to receive very sophisticated radiotherapy that, if successful, may revolutionise the way radiotherapy is given.”
“The enthusiasm for the trial is shared amongst all uro-oncologists in the department. We are delighted to recruit our 100th patient and are extremely grateful to all our patients who have volunteered to participate in this important research.”
Emma Thompson, Research Radiographer Superintendent, added: “Key to successful recruitment to the PACE trial has been the excellent co-operation across all of our teams employed in the treatment of prostate cancer.
“Our urology and oncology departments are extremely trials active and offer patients the best available treatment choices. Our 100th patient who consented said that PACE gave him the opportunity to be offered a cutting edge treatment in addition to helping others and contributing to moving science forward.”
The PACE trial has proved so popular that it is close to recruiting the national target number of 857 patients almost a year earlier than expected.