MRI-only treAtmeNT planning for Anal and Rectal cAncer radiotherapY

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    MRI-only treAtmeNT planning for Anal and Rectal cAncer radiotherapY (MANTA-RAY)

  • IRAS ID

    243334

  • Contact name

    David Bird

  • Contact email

    david.bird3@nhs.net

  • Sponsor organisation

    Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    3 years, 0 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    Almost half of cancer patients undergo radiotherapy as part of their treatment. Currently radiotherapy treatment planning involves using a CT scan to maximise radiation to the cancer whilst minimising radiation dose to healthy tissue. For many cancers the extent of the tumour is seen much better on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This study will assess whether MRI can replace CT for radiotherapy planning for ano-rectal cancers by establishing if a) it can calculate the radiation dose as accurately as a CT scan, b) it could reduce the radiation dose to healthy organs surrounding the cancer and c) it can be used in a clinical radiotherapy department to plan patient cancer treatments.

    We have chosen the ano-rectal cancer sites as MRI is better than CT for the definition of tumours and normal tissues for these cancer sites.

    Up to 80 ano-rectal cancer patients who are already receiving radiotherapy as part of their treatment undergoing radiotherapy in Leeds Cancer Centre will be invited to participate in an imaging study where an additional MRI scan is obtained after informed consent have been taken. This study will have no impact on the participant’s treatment. The MRI scan will be used to compare the new method of treatment planning with the current method used routinely in patient care.

    We are collaborating with the Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC) based at Freeman Hospital Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital (Australia), The Australian e-Health Research Centre (Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital), a consortium of UK institutions supported by Cancer Research UK Centres Network Accelerator Award Grant (A21993) (ART-NET) and two medical companies: Spectronics Medical AB (Sweden) and Philips Healthcare (The Netherlands), to help develop this way of planning treatments. NCCC will participate in recruitment, the other collaborators will participate in the analysis of the anonymised data.

  • REC name

    London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    18/LO/1298

  • Date of REC Opinion

    1 Aug 2018

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion