Lawson, Sunnybrook study aims to improve prostate cancer treatments using advanced imaging – London

Researchers at the Lawson Health Research Institute in London are teaming up with scientists at Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto for a study to improve outcomes for patients undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer, the most common cancer in Canadian men.

Researchers say the study will examine the integration of advanced imaging technology into the treatment process to give doctors a clearer picture of how much cancer is in a patient’s prostate and where it is in the body. prostate.

Lawson officials note that current CT scans only provide doctors with the location and boundaries of the prostate, not the location of the cancer itself.

By incorporating two other types of imaging – prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) MRI and PET – doctors will be able to find out where the cancer is and target it with more intensive and targeted radiation therapy, Dr. Glenn Bauman, a Lawson scientist and radiation oncologist at the London Regional Cancer Program at LHSC.

Using both imaging techniques will also help show whether the cancer has moved elsewhere in the patient’s pelvic region, said Dr. Andrew Loblaw, a scientist from Sunnybrook.

“The combination of PSMA and SBRT” – stereotaxic body radiation therapy, the type of targeted radiation used in the study – “gives us the ability to save normal tissue and dramatically reduce treatment times,” Loblaw said in a statement.

Fifty men with advanced prostate cancer will be recruited for the study, which will all see PSMA PET scans at St. Joseph’s Health Care in London, Lawson officials said. The group will be monitored for five years to determine if the targeted and intense radiation therapy is working and if other therapies are needed.

According to Public Health Canada, prostate cancer is the fourth most common cancer in Canada and the most common cancer in men.

At least one in nine men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, with the risk of developing prostate cancer increasing after the age of 50. Most diagnoses occur in men in their 60s, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

The company’s website says risk factors for prostate cancer include a family history of prostate cancer, being black, being overweight or obese, being tall as an adult, and inherited genetic mutations (usually HOXB13 and BRCA2 mutations).

Possible risk factors include diets high in dairy and calcium, low blood levels of vitamin E or selenium, the use of certain chemicals such as pesticides, cadmium, and chemicals used in the manufacture of rubber, prostate inflammation, smoking and high androgen levels, the company says.

Information about prostate cancer symptoms and processing can be found on the CCS website.