A WORLD-FIRST medical trial that aims to extend the life expectancy of men with advanced prostate cancer is underway in Belfast.
Researchers from Queen's University Belfast are hoping that the combination of two radiotherapy treatments will prolong the lives of patients in which the disease has spread to the bones.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men in Northern Ireland, with three new cases diagnosed every day.
Almost 8,500 men are currently living with the disease which causes around 250 deaths a year.
Thirty patients will take part in the trial over the next 18 months at the main cancer centre based at Belfast City hospital.
The pioneering treatment will be tested on men in which prostate cancer has spread at the time of diagnosis – which accounts for around 10 per cent of cases.
Hormone therapy is the current method of shrinking tumours but the new approach will combine two existing forms of radiotherapy to target prostate cancer cells in the pelvis and the bones.
Professor Joe O’Sullivan, who is leading the research, said it has the potential to "completely change the way the disease is treated".
"This is the first trial of its kind anywhere in the world. It is hoped that combining the two forms of radiotherapy will…extend the life expectancy of men whose treatment options are otherwise limited. We expect results within two years, with the view to then embarking on a larger trial with a greater number of patients.
"This is a crucial development in the fight against prostate cancer. Thousands are living with the illness, which unfortunately claims one life every hour across the UK."
