Patients choice of focal therapy for prostate cancer (PACT)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the decision-making experience of patients who choose focal therapy for the treatment of their localised prostate cancer
IRAS ID
161545
Contact name
Eamonn McKeown
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
City University London
Research summary
Patients who are diagnosed with prostate cancer, which is confined to the prostate gland, are offered several treatments to choose from. This includes active surveillance, surgery, radiotherapy and focal therapy (Sidana et al 2012). This situation presents patients with a decision-making dilemma between competing treatments for their disease (Braumunk et al 2013).
Focal therapy is treating specific area or areas of confined prostate cancer considered significant in terms of progression (Eggener et al 2010). Forms of focal therapy are High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU), Cryo-Ablation Therapy (CAT) and Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT) (Ahmed et al 2012). These are minimally invasive treatments, which use different sources of energy to treat specific prostate cancer site which is considered significant in terms of progression. The focal target therapy approach differentiates it from radical treatments such as surgery and radiotherapy, where the aim is treat the whole prostate gland.
There are growing numbers of patients who are choosing focal therapy because of the recent evidence showing good short-term cancer control and low complication rates (Dickinson et al 2013; Barret et al 2013). However, there is current lack of evidence on the decision-making process that leads patients to choose focal therapy for prostate cancer.
The aim of this study is to use our understanding of patients experience to develop ways that will help men make informed decision about focal therapy for prostate cancer. The study objectives are: to clarify whether focal therapy is offered to patients following their diagnosis with prostate cancer; to identify the sources from which patients receive information about focal therapy; to assess patients' understanding of focal therapy outcomes, in terms of curing cancer and side effects; to understand the conditions that influence patients to choose focal therapy for prostate cancer; to determine ways of enabling patients to make informed decision about the choice of focal therapy for prostate cancer.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/1121
Date of REC Opinion
13 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion