A study looking at improving radiotherapy treatments for people who have cancer (E²-RADIatE)

Cancer type:

All cancer types

Status:

Open

Phase:

Other

This study is for anyone with cancer Open a glossary item having radiotherapy over the age of 12.

The researchers are collecting information from people having treatment now to try and improve radiotherapy for people in the future.

More about this trial

Radiotherapy means the use of radiation, usually x-rays Open a glossary item to treat cancer. You might have radiotherapy from inside the body, called internal radiotherapy. Or external radiotherapy, which is from outside the body.

Radiotherapy can be used to try to cure cancer, reduce the chance of cancer coming back or to help relieve symptoms. You might have it by itself or with other treatments, such as chemotherapy Open a glossary item or surgery .

It is a very common treatment for many different cancer types. So, by collecting information from people having radiotherapy, doctors would like to:

improve the most common ways of giving radiotherapy (standard treatment )
understand more about new ways of giving radiotherapy

The main aims of the study are to:

understand more about how doctors use radiotherapy as a treatment for cancer
understand more about the side effects and effect on quality of life
look at how they can use this information to improve treatment and care while you are having radiotherapy

Who can enter

The following bullet points are a summary of the entry conditions for this study. Talk to your doctor or the study team if you are unsure about any of these. They will be able to advise you.

Who can take part

You may be able to join this study if all of the following apply. You:

have cancer
are going to have radiotherapy
are at least 12 years old

Please note - The research team aim to answer different questions about radiotherapy using the information they get from this study. There will be different questions for different cancer types or cancer stage Open a glossary item .

Your doctor can let you know which research questions your information will help to answer.

Trial design

The study team would like to collect information from your medical notes about you and your:

cancer
general health
symptoms
treatment
scan results
test results – such as blood test results

You don’t have to give the team any of this information. They will get it from your medical notes and records.

The study team use this information to help answer research questions about cancer and radiotherapy. This may help people with the same type of cancer as you in the future.

Quality of life questionnaires
The study team might ask you to fill in questionnaires about your everyday life and wellbeing. These are called quality of life questionnaires.

You fill them in at your visit to hospital:

before you start radiotherapy treatment
when you finish your radiotherapy treatment
at your follow up appointments

The questionnaires take 10 to 25 minutes each time.

You don’t need to fill them in if you don’t want to. You can still take part in the main study.

Accessing other health services and working
The study team may also ask you about how often you accessed health services during the time you were living with cancer. These include:

GP appointments
A&E visits
other appointments with specialists
any care in your home - such as district nurse visits

They might also ask if cancer is stopping you from working if you normally do so.

By looking into these answers and the quality of life questionnaires, the researchers can get an idea of the financial impact of radiotherapy.

You don’t need to give this information if you don’t want to. You can still take part in the main study.

End of study
This study has no stop date. This means that you will take part in this study until:

you decide you no longer wish to take part
the researchers stop the study
your follow up visits finish

Hospital visits

The study does not involve any extra visits to hospital. You fill in any questionnaires when you go to hospital for your usual care.

Side effects

You have no extra treatment as part of this study. So, there are no extra possible side effects from taking part.

Radiotherapy affects people in different ways, so it's difficult to predict exactly what side effects you may have and how bad they might be. Some people only have mild side effects but for others the side effects can be more severe.

Some general side effects include: