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Ten year prostate cancer trial proves optimal treatment duration

By Deb,

Results from Australia’s and New Zealand’s biggest cancer trial have identified the best treatment regime for men suffering from newly-diagnosed aggressive but localised prostate cancer.

Professor Jim Denham, Calvary Mater Newcastle Department of Radiation Oncology Staff Specialist, headed Australia and New Zealand’s biggest cancer trial in identifying the best treatment regime for men suffering from newly-diagnosed aggressive but localised prostate cancer.

The RADAR study, run through TROG Cancer Research, of which Calvary Mater Newcastle was a trial site, compared the use of hormone treatment (longer versus short term use) coupled with radiation therapy.

This trial enrolled 1,071 men with locally advanced prostate cancer at 23 treatment centres across Australia and New Zealand, who were monitored over a 10-year period. All men received six months of testosterone suppression therapy, using the drug leuprorelin, followed by radiotherapy. Participants were then randomly allocated to have either an additional 12 months of testosterone suppression therapy (18 months in total) or no further treatment.

The trial found that the 18 months testosterone suppression therapy option plus radiotherapy emerged as the most effective, compared to the six month time period.

Professor Jim Denham said these findings showed a 30 per cent reduction in deaths due to prostate cancer as well as a 40 per cent reduction in cancer spreading (metastases) to other areas of the body.

“We also found that men who received the 18 months of treatment did not experience more side effects or impaired quality of life factors than those who received the six months of hormone treatment.

“The confirmation that quality of life in men treated on the RADAR trial was not inferior to quality of life outcomes in Australian men of the same age, 10 years after treatment, came from the 421 men who participated in our ‘Life ten years after prostate cancer treatment’ sub-study.

“Around 17,000 Australian men each year are diagnosed with prostate cancer and we are constantly looking at ways to beat this disease which sees so many men go undiagnosed for a long period of time.

“Thanks to this trial men with newly-diagnosed aggressive but localised prostate cancer can be spared the many long-term side effects associated with longer durations of testosterone suppression (28 to 36 months), which have commonly been used in conjunction with radiotherapy around the world,” said Professor Denham.

Seventy five year old Colin Sandeman was one of the men who volunteered to participate in the trial.

“I didn’t even hesitate when my doctor asked if I wanted to participate in this clinical trial. I had the 18 months of hormone treatment and the impact on my life was minimal.”

“I don’t think about having prostate cancer now. It’s in the past. I’m normal, and so many other blokes are too – they’re curing a lot of people,” Colin said.

Today, at the age of 75 Colin has returned to his normal life. He’s back into sailing and canoeing and tending to his beloved bees.

The results of this longitudinal study were recently published in the prestigious journal, The Lancet Oncology.

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Collaborating for a cure

By Deb,

Calvary Mater Newcastle and local charity Hope4Cure Foundation have joined forces this Ovarian Cancer Awareness month, to support women and their families experiencing ovarian and gynaecological cancer in the Hunter region.

Following a $40,000 donation from Hope4Cure Foundation, Calvary Mater Newcastle launched a special research grant for its researchers to help bolster research in ovarian and gynaecological cancer.

Dr Jennette Sakoff, Chief Hospital Scientist, Medical Oncology, Calvary Mater Newcastle, and her collaborator, Prof Janice Aldrich-Wright from Western Sydney University, are the recipients of the inaugural Hope4Cure Grant Fund. The funds will go towards a project to pursue the development of new platinum-based molecules for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Dr Jennette Sakoff explains, “Platinum-based compounds have been used for the treatment of cancer since the 1960’s. These agents kill cancer cells by binding to DNA. However, they do have side-effects such as kidney and nerve toxicity, and cancers do become resistant to their use over time. To overcome these problems we need to discover agents that function differently and which only target the cancer cells and not healthy cells.

“The team has discovered a unique class of platinum-based compounds that are different to the standard platinum-based intravenous chemotherapy treatments such as cisplatin, carboplatin or oxaliplatin. These compounds are very selective at targeting ovarian cancer cells. Indeed, they are 1,000 times more potent at killing ovarian cancer cells grown in the laboratory compared with non-cancer cells and cells derived from other tumour types. The funds will be used to understand why this occurs and how can we exploit this for the development of better treatments for ovarian cancer.”

Sarah Frith, Co-Founder, Hope4Cure Foundation, said, “We are so pleased to be able to support local researchers make advancements in ovarian and gynaecological cancer. We are fortunate to have the unwavering support of the local community, who have supported our fundraisers. Last year, 100 per cent of the funds raised from our Christmas in July event has contributed to the Hope4Cure Grant Fund, totalling $40,000. We’d like to offer our sincere gratitude to the attendees at the event, the wonderful businesses who supported by providing prizes and auction items, and to everyone who made the night a huge success and have enabled this important grant to be established.”

Ovarian cancer has the lowest survival rate of any women’s cancer. Each day in Australia, four women are diagnosed with the disease and three will die. One in 10 Australians know someone who has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Calvary Mater Newcastle and local charity Hope4Cure Foundation have joined forces this Ovarian Cancer Awareness month, to support women and their families experiencing ovarian and gynaecological cancer in the Hunter region.

Following a $40,000 donation from Hope4Cure Foundation, Calvary Mater Newcastle launched a special research grant for its researchers to help bolster research in ovarian and gynaecological cancer.

Dr Jennette Sakoff, Chief Hospital Scientist, Medical Oncology, Calvary Mater Newcastle, and her collaborator, Prof Janice Aldrich-Wright from Western Sydney University, are the recipients of the inaugural Hope4Cure Grant Fund. The funds will go towards a project to pursue the development of new platinum-based molecules for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Dr Jennette Sakoff explains, “Platinum-based compounds have been used for the treatment of cancer since the 1960’s. These agents kill cancer cells by binding to DNA. However, they do have side-effects such as kidney and nerve toxicity, and cancers do become resistant to their use over time. To overcome these problems we need to discover agents that function differently and which only target the cancer cells and not healthy cells.

“The team has discovered a unique class of platinum-based compounds that are different to the standard platinum-based intravenous chemotherapy treatments such as cisplatin, carboplatin or oxaliplatin. These compounds are very selective at targeting ovarian cancer cells. Indeed, they are 1,000 times more potent at killing ovarian cancer cells grown in the laboratory compared with non-cancer cells and cells derived from other tumour types. The funds will be used to understand why this occurs and how can we exploit this for the development of better treatments for ovarian cancer.”

Sarah Frith, Co-Founder, Hope4Cure Foundation, said, “We are so pleased to be able to support local researchers make advancements in ovarian and gynaecological cancer. We are fortunate to have the unwavering support of the local community, who have supported our fundraisers. Last year, 100 per cent of the funds raised from our Christmas in July event has contributed to the Hope4Cure Grant Fund, totalling $40,000. We’d like to offer our sincere gratitude to the attendees at the event, the wonderful businesses who supported by providing prizes and auction items, and to everyone who made the night a huge success and have enabled this important grant to be established.”

Ovarian cancer has the lowest survival rate of any women’s cancer. Each day in Australia, four women are diagnosed with the disease and three will die. One in 10 Australians know someone who has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

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Ten year prostate cancer trial proves optimal treatment duration

By Deb,

Results from Australia’s and New Zealand’s biggest cancer trial have identified the best treatment regime for men suffering from newly-diagnosed aggressive but localised prostate cancer.

Professor Jim Denham, Calvary Mater Newcastle Department of Radiation Oncology Staff Specialist, headed Australia and New Zealand’s biggest cancer trial in identifying the best treatment regime for men suffering from newly-diagnosed aggressive but localised prostate cancer.

The RADAR study, run through TROG Cancer Research, of which Calvary Mater Newcastle was a trial site, compared the use of hormone treatment (longer versus short term use) coupled with radiation therapy.

This trial enrolled 1,071 men with locally advanced prostate cancer at 23 treatment centres across Australia and New Zealand, who were monitored over a 10-year period. All men received six months of testosterone suppression therapy, using the drug leuprorelin, followed by radiotherapy. Participants were then randomly allocated to have either an additional 12 months of testosterone suppression therapy (18 months in total) or no further treatment.

The trial found that the 18 months testosterone suppression therapy option plus radiotherapy emerged as the most effective, compared to the six month time period.

Professor Jim Denham said these findings showed a 30 per cent reduction in deaths due to prostate cancer as well as a 40 per cent reduction in cancer spreading (metastases) to other areas of the body.

“We also found that men who received the 18 months of treatment did not experience more side effects or impaired quality of life factors than those who received the six months of hormone treatment.

“The confirmation that quality of life in men treated on the RADAR trial was not inferior to quality of life outcomes in Australian men of the same age, 10 years after treatment, came from the 421 men who participated in our ‘Life ten years after prostate cancer treatment’ sub-study.

“Around 17,000 Australian men each year are diagnosed with prostate cancer and we are constantly looking at ways to beat this disease which sees so many men go undiagnosed for a long period of time.

“Thanks to this trial men with newly-diagnosed aggressive but localised prostate cancer can be spared the many long-term side effects associated with longer durations of testosterone suppression (28 to 36 months), which have commonly been used in conjunction with radiotherapy around the world,” said Professor Denham.

Seventy five year old Colin Sandeman was one of the men who volunteered to participate in the trial.

“I didn’t even hesitate when my doctor asked if I wanted to participate in this clinical trial. I had the 18 months of hormone treatment and the impact on my life was minimal.”

“I don’t think about having prostate cancer now. It’s in the past. I’m normal, and so many other blokes are too – they’re curing a lot of people,” Colin said.

Today, at the age of 75 Colin has returned to his normal life. He’s back into sailing and canoeing and tending to his beloved bees.

The results of this longitudinal study were recently published in the prestigious journal, The Lancet Oncology.

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