A trial looking at chemotherapy for prostate cancer that has stopped responding to treatment (CL56)

The researchers found that two thirds of men in this trial responded to the combination of lomustine and chlorambucil.

This small trial recruited 37 men. Everybody who took part had lomustine and chlorambucil. The men had an average of 2 treatment cycles each.

The doctors analysed the results in 2005. They looked at PSA blood test results following treatment to find out how well treatment worked. They found

• In 1 man the PSA level returned to a normal level for at least 4 weeks – researchers called this 'complete response ’
• In 2 men, the PSA level halved and did not rise again for at least 4 weeks – researchers called this ‘partial response ’
• In 17 men the PSA level stayed the same for at least 8 weeks – researchers called this ‘stable disease ’
• In 12 men the PSA continued to rise, or a CT scan showed the cancer had continued to grow
• They didn’t have the results for 5 men

The main side effects were mild and included tiredness and constipation. A very small number of men had a drop in blood counts.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.