A trial of personalised care after treatment for prostate cancer (TOPCAT-P)

Please note - this trial is no longer recruiting patients. We hope to add results when they are available.

Cancer type:

Prostate cancer

Status:

Closed

Phase:

Pilot

This is a trial to see if extra support after treatment for prostate cancer improves men’s quality of life.

After treatment for prostate cancer, you may have physical, sexual, and emotional problems which can affect your quality of life Open a glossary item .

Researchers are looking for ways to improve care for men with prostate cancer. They want to see if offering men extra support will improve recovery after treatment, experience of follow up care and overall quality of life. Extra support could include appointments with a specialist nurse that take place at their GP surgery.

This is a pilot study to see if it would be possible to run a larger trial looking at extra support after prostate cancer treatment. In the pilot study, the researchers want to find out

If they can recruit men to a trial looking at this question
How many men drop out of the trial
The symptoms men have and how they are managed
How long it takes to collect and analyse all the information
What men think about the support they receive

Who can enter

You cannot volunteer to take part in this trial. You may be asked to take part if you have had treatment at the Maelor Hospital in Wrexham and

You were diagnosed with prostate cancer between 9 months and 2 years ago
You had surgery, radiotherapy or brachytherapy with the aim of curing your cancer or you haven’t had treatment to cure your cancer and you don’t have any symptoms, but may have treatment to control symptoms in future (you are having watchful waiting and have regular PSA tests)
The multidisciplinary team looking after you think you are well enough to take part

You cannot enter this trial if you

Could have treatment to try to cure your cancer, but you have chosen to be monitored until tests show that your caner is getting worse (you are having active surveillance)
Could only have treatment aiming to control symptoms of cancer rather than curing the cancer

Trial design

This trial aims to recruit 120 men. Everybody taking part will fill in a questionnaire about their health when they join the trial.

It is a randomised trial. The men taking part are put into 1 of 2 groups by a computer. Neither you nor your doctor will be able to decide which group you are in.

Men in one group will receive a range of information and support materials that they will use by themselves. Men in the other group receive the same materials but they also have an appointment with a specialist nurse (a clinical nurse specialist). And they may have more appointments with the nurse if they want them.

You stay in the trial for 9 months. During that time, the researchers will ask you to fill out a short questionnaire every 3 months. This will ask how often you have seen your GP, other health care professionals or social services professionals.

After 9 months, the trial team will ask you to fill in the same type of health questionnaire that you completed at the beginning of the trial.

If you are in the group that sees the specialist nurse, the trial team will ask your permission to make audio recordings of the appointments.

The trial team will ask some men to take part in an interview at the end of the study. If you agree to do this, a researcher will ask what you thought about taking part in the study.

Hospital visits

Everybody taking part sees the trial team at the beginning of the trial and again 9 months later. This will be at your GP surgery or a local hospital.

If you are in the group that sees the specialist nurse, you have any appointments at your GP surgery, or at the research centre in Wrexham.

Side effects

There are no side effects from taking part in this trial. If you find it uncomfortable to answer any parts of the questionnaires, you can leave those blank.