Submitted by Dr Hayley B. Wo... on Thu, 22/07/2021 - 17:45
Charlotte Coles (Dept of Oncology, Breast Cancer Programme and lead for CRUK RadNet Cambridge) and co-lead applicants Jo Haviland (ICR Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit) and Anna Kirby (Royal Marsden Hospital/ICR) have been awarded £1.3M to lead the first clinical trial in the UK testing proton beam therapy (PBT) for patients with breast cancer. PBT can be more accurately targeted than x-rays potentially reducing risks of side effects in normal tissues such as the heart. The PARABLE trial will compare PBT with standard x-ray radiotherapy (RT) in breast cancer patients at higher risk of side-effects from RT. The trial, due to open in December, aims to show that PBT reduces the mean heart dose, a predictor of long-term risk of serious heart damage, whilst not increasing other shorter term side effects such as skin changes.