A clinical trial underway in Victoria could help men with prostate cancer spend less time in hospitals and more time living life.
The five-month-old pilot, called ADAPT-25, uses artificial intelligence and high-precision radiation to target cancerous cells – a process that affects healthy tissue less than typical radiation and reduces treatment from sometimes 40 visits over several weeks to just two days.
“In the past, curative radiation treatments … have been very inconvenient for men,” said Abe Alexander, a radiation oncologist at BC Cancer’s Victoria care centre. “They’ve had to come in for four to eight weeks of daily treatments, and now we’re piloting technology that can reduce the number of treatments and hopefully make the treatments more effective.”
According to the BC Cancer Foundation, over 4,000 men across the province will be diagnosed with prostate cancer every year – and fighting that grim statistic is exactly what ADAPT-25 aims to achieve.
“I think that it’s going to improve our ability to treat people,” said Alexander. “It’s going to improve our ability to reduce side effects and improve cure rates, and also it’s going to free up time so people can live their lives.”
So far, 10 men are enrolled in the trial, with nearly another 10 in the process of joining. One of the participants, 77-year-old Mike Miles, has already received two doses of the trial’s high-precision radiation.
“The early results are really, really favourable and I’ve not had any of the more toxic side effects that are typically associated with conventional treatment, such as surgery,” he said.
Miles, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer last January, explained ADAPT-25 treatments have been mostly painless.
“There’s a requirement to go and fill your bladder full of water prior to getting the radiation treatment, and that’s about the most uncomfortable thing,” he said.
Miles added that the trial appears to have had a positive impact on his cancer. His initial prostate-specific antigen level – a measure of the proteins produced by prostate cells, which can be an indicator of prostate cancer when high – was 13. As of a week ago, it had dropped to 1.3, well below the threshold for concern.
The project’s efficacy so far has given Miles hope that the new technology is going to save lives.
“My cousin’s husband had the more conventional 40 doses of radiation, and he developed leukemia, and he’s now having a really hard time dealing with a leukemia diagnosis,” he said. “By reducing the total amount of radiation, it will reduce the likelihood of things like secondary leukemia.”
Alexander echoed Miles’ optimism.
“We’ll be able to treat more men with this technology, we’ll be able to open up radiation treatment unit time,” he said. “The hope is it will streamline things to improve quality of life, outcomes for people, and allow us to focus on other areas and other patients that need our help.”
This summer, the trial will expand to BC Cancer centres in Surrey and Abbotsford, bringing the treatment to more families across the province.
To learn more about BC Cancer, visit bccancer.bc.ca.