
"Health wise I am feeling great. I am a big supporter of trials - it allows new treatments and drugs to be brought in.”
Please note - this trial is no longer recruiting patients. We hope to add results when they are available.
This trial is comparing a new set of instructions with those used at the moment about how to fill your bladder before external radiotherapy for prostate cancer.
If you have prostate cancer that has not spread beyond your prostate, you will usually have radiotherapy to treat it. The prostate is a small gland about the size of a walnut. It surrounds the first part of the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the penis (the urethra).
Because it is so close to the bladder, the prostate’s position can vary from day to day, depending on how much urine is in your bladder. But it is important that your prostate is in the same position for each radiotherapy treatment you have. Having the same amount of fluid in your bladder for each treatment will help this.
Before you have treatment your radiographer may ask you to fill your bladder by drinking some water. Researchers in this trial are comparing a new set of instructions with those staff already use. They want to see if the new guidelines can better help the bladder to be the same size before each treatment.
Sometimes, men have bladder irritation caused by prostate radiotherapy. The amount of urine in the bladder may be linked to this side effect. So researchers will also collect urine samples to see if there are any features (biomarkers) in the urine that could be used to predict who may have this side effect. The main aims of this trial are to
You may be able to enter this trial if you are being cared for by doctors at the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre in Belfast. To enter the trial you must also
You cannot enter this trial if you
This trial will recruit 101 men. It is randomised. Everyone taking part will be put into one of 2 groups by a computer. Neither you nor your doctor can decide which group you are in. Each group will be given a set of instructions on how to fill their bladder before radiotherapy.
The first time you follow these instructions will be when you come for your radiotherapy planning.
The instructions will start by telling you how to squirt a small amount of liquid into your back passage (an enema) to clear your bowels. After 10 to 15 minutes, you try to empty your bowels if you can, and pass urine to empty your bladder.
If you are in group 1, you then drink 500ml (about 4 cups) of water 45 minutes before your radiotherapy, which is what happens normally. If you are in group 2 you drink 250 ml (about 2 cups) of water 45 minutes before your radiotherapy.
You then have an ultrasound scan of your bladder, and a CT scan to plan your radiotherapy.
Once a week before radiotherapy you have an ultrasound to measure how full your bladder is.
You will also give blood and urine samples throughout the trial. And, fill out short questionnaires asking about any problems you may have passing urine.
Your routine radiotherapy visits will be a little longer on days when you have the ultrasound scans and fill out questionnaires for the trial.
You may find the ultrasound scans uncomfortable if your bladder is very full. The scan itself only takes a few seconds.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Sharon Hynds
Belfast Health & Social Care Trust
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
Friends of the Cancer Centre
Freephone 0808 800 4040
"Health wise I am feeling great. I am a big supporter of trials - it allows new treatments and drugs to be brought in.”