BARitOne
Research type
Research Study
Full title
BARitOne: Biologically Adaptive Radiotherapy for Oropharyngeal Cancer An R-IDEAL stage 2a-2b technical optimisation, feasibility, and safety study
IRAS ID
318567
Contact name
Claire Paterson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN45653542
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Six weeks of radiotherapy treatment for oropharyngeal cancer is carried out with the aim of long-term cancer control or cure. Unfortunately, some cancers recur after finishing radiotherapy. If oropharyngeal cancer comes back, it usually recurs in the same place it was at diagnosis. Giving a higher dose of radiotherapy to this area might help keep the cancer under control for longer. However, increasing the dose for all patients is not required.
Our previous research showed that a diffusion weighted (DW) MRI scan, carried out before and during treatment can tell us which patients are most likely to have recurrence.
This study will use these scans to identify which patients are at risk of their cancer coming back after treatment.A DW MRI scan will be done before the start of radiotherapy and repeated after 2 weeks of treatment then analysed by the specialist team.
If the MRI scans show the cancer is not responding to the usual radiotherapy dose and likely to recur after radiotherapy, a higher dose will be given for the second half of treatment.If the scans show the cancer is responding well to radiotherapy, the standard dose of radiotherapy will continue to be delivered.
Identifying cancers in patients where the radiotherapy is not working well enough during treatment and changing the radiotherapy plan may lead to better treatment in the long term but is very different to how things are done now. One aim of this study is to see how practical the extra steps involved in changing the treatment plan are and work out the best way of doing this.
The study will also gather information from participants about side effects and the impact on patients’ quality of life during and after treatment – an important way for us to make sure that increasing the dose of radiotherapy is acceptable.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
23/WS/0056
Date of REC Opinion
16 May 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion