Results of major UK trial for prostate cancer treatment

Active monitoring of prostate cancer is as effective as surgery and radiotherapy, in terms of survival at 10 years, reports the largest study of its kind. Results show that all three treatments result in similar, and very low, rates of death from prostate cancer. Surgery and radiotherapy reduce the risk of cancer progression over time compared with active monitoring, but cause more unpleasant side-effects. The ProtecT trial, led by researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Bristol in nine UK Centres, including Cardiff University, is the first trial to evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of three major treatment options: active monitoring, surgery (radical prostatectomy) and radiotherapy for men with localised prostate cancer. Researchers at Cardiff University designed and led the radiotherapy arm of the trial. Between 1999 and 2009, 82,429 men aged 50-69 across the UK were tested and 1,643 diagnosed with localised prostate cancer agreed to be randomised to active monitoring (545), radical prostatectomy (553) or radical radiotherapy (545). The research team measured mortality rates at 10 years, cancer progression and spread, and the impact of treatments reported by men.