A London-based study is examining whether advanced imaging paired with high precision, short course radiotherapy could be a more effective treatment for prostate cancer.
Researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute and Sunnybrook Research Institute have teamed up for the study.
“We have started to look at ways to integrate advanced imaging to help better understand the amount of cancer in the prostate and the location of cancer in the prostate to help guide radiation treatments,” said Dr. Glenn Bauman, Lawson scientist, and radiation oncologist at London Health Sciences Centre.
Currently, when radiation is used to treat prostate cancer patients, a computer tomography scan (CT) provides radiologists with the location and boundary of the prostate, but it does not reveal the location of the cancer within the gland.
“What we are doing in the study is integrating two other forms of imaging; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET scans, both of which can give information on the exact location of the cancer,” said Bauman. “This will allow us to refine the radiation treatment and to target the cancer with more intensified radiation.”
The more advanced imaging will also help doctors determine whether the cancer has moved into other areas of the pelvic region.
“This is a smarter tool that will help us more accurately know what patients have,” said Sunnybrook Scientist Dr. Andrew Loblaw. “We will know if they have more of a metastatic disease and who has localized disease. Cure rates are better when you know exactly what you are trying to cure.”
Fifty men are being recruited for the study. They will undergo the advanced imaging at St. Joseph’s Health Care London. Researchers will then monitor the study participants for five years to determine the success of the targeted, intense radiation treatments.
The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research has provided funding for the study.
