Below the Belt Award

In Australia last year, over 3,000 men died from prostate cancer and many more are living with this disease. Chemotherapy in the setting of prostate cancer which has spread to other parts of the body improves symptoms and survival, however, chemotherapy is associated with significant side effects. The standard way to deliver chemotherapy is to continue on a 3 weekly schedule while the cancer is still responding but this is often limited by an accumulation of side effects. Several small studies have suggested that some patients can safely have breaks in chemotherapy with less side effects and a better quality of life. However, this is difficult to achieve with our current monitoring strategies. We have developed a new blood test which can accurately identify patients who are responding to chemotherapy. We plan to use this blood test to guide breaks in chemotherapy to provide more tolerable treatment and ultimately improve patients’ quality of life.