A trial looking at helping men manage urinary problems after radiotherapy for prostate cancer

Cancer type:

Prostate cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Phase 3

This trial looked at teaching men how to manage urinary problems after having radiotherapy for prostate cancer. This was by using an exercise and skills programme.

The trial was open for people to join between 2011 and 2013. The team published the results in 2022.

More about this trial

Doctors often treat prostate cancer with radiotherapy Open a glossary item . After radiotherapy some men may have ongoing urinary problems. For example:

wanting to pass urine frequently
needing to pass urine urgently
needing to urinate more at night
pain or difficulty passing urine
leaking urine (incontinence)

For some men these problems can be upsetting and affect their quality of life Open a glossary item . If necessary, they can take medications to help. But these medications have side effects and are not suitable for everyone.

In this trial, the team looked at a combination of exercises and skills to see if they could help. These were:

group support sessions led by a nurse – including a motivational film, information booklet, peer group discussions and education on late effects of treatment and sexual problems
one-to-one individual support from a nurse – including goal setting and reviewing of a bladder diary
pelvic floor muscle exercises

The aim of this trial was to find out if the new knowledge, skills and exercises given to men could help them manage their urinary problems better after radiotherapy.

Summary of results

This was a randomised trial at one radiotherapy unit in the UK. 63 people took part and:

31 people had 10 weeks of the exercise and skills extra support
32 people had standard care after radiotherapy

The people having standard care saw their doctor for a check up 6 months after radiotherapy. And they had ongoing contact with their clinical nurse specialist (CNS).

At the start of the trial everyone had moderate to severe urinary problems. The trial team looked at how well the men were managing at certain points during the trial.

At 3 months the men with the extra support had significant improvement in symptoms compared to the standard care group. This included improvement in:

symptoms related to passing urine, also called voiding symptoms which included a reduced stream of urine, increased spraying and passing urine in a stop-start way
incontinence of urine
confidence in managing symptoms

At 6 months there was no difference in symptoms between the two groups.

The trial team did not report that anyone had side effects from taking part in the trial.

Conclusion
The trial showed that the extra support helped men feel more confident in managing symptoms. It also resulted in small improvements in urinary symptoms. But there wasn’t a big difference between the two groups. And the changes didn’t last long.

Sometimes trials show a way of managing symptoms isn’t useful for a particular type or stage Open a glossary item of cancer. But these trials still add to our knowledge and understanding of cancer and how to support people living with and beyond cancer.

More detailed information
There is more information about this research in the reference below.

Please note, the information we link to here is not in plain English. It has been written for healthcare professionals and researchers.

Randomised controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of the symptom management after radiotherapy (SMaRT) group intervention to ameliorate lower urinary tract symptoms in men treated for prostate cancer
S Faithfull and others
Supportive Care in Cancer, 2022. Volume 30, pages 3165–3176.

Where this information comes from

We have based this summary on the information in the article above. This has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. We have not analysed the data ourselves. As far as we are aware, the link we list above is active and the article is free and available to view.