PCa cure on the horizon in the UK?

Hmmm. The claims are quite encouraging but then there's this from the article...

Consultant clinical oncologist Dr Isabel Syndikus told the Daily Express: “If we increase the standard radiation dose we improve the outcome for high risk patients, but we also increase the risk of side-effects and damage to healthy cells in organs near the prostate like the bladder and bowels.

“High dose painting radiotherapy is designed to significantly reduce side-effects while still improving control of the cancer, making the treatment shorter and with fewer complications.


---Not sure it sounds all that side effects free. Perhaps, they're lesser side effects but they're still there. I hope the curative rates show it to be a more effective weapon vs. PCa than current means.

There is a ongoing trial now of SBRT of this, called "heterogeneous planning" or intraprostatic boosting. The idea is to more closely mimic the way HDR brachy is applied - more dose in some regions than in others. Early results are showing good effectiveness without undue toxicity, but so far not any better than homogeneous planning. The homogeneous planners argue that there are often microscopic foci that do not show up in any of even the best imaging. They argue that the biologically effective dose is already very high throughout the prostate (much higher than anything achievable with conventional IMRT), and the dose to organs at risk (bladder, rectum) is already very low. I personally doubt that it makes a difference.