Alison Birtle, Consultant Oncologist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, presented the findings of the practice changing POUT trial at the upcoming 10th European Multidisciplinary Congress on Urological Cancers (EMUC18) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The POUT trial is the largest and only large scale randomised trial within this patient group and looks at the impact of chemotherapy after surgery for cancer of the upper urinary tract system.
Chemotherapy would normally only be an option following surgery if the cancer started to return. However, similar types of cancer have shown that giving chemotherapy straight after surgery can stop the cancer from coming back.
This trial investigated whether using chemotherapy in this way could be successful in preventing cancer of the upper urinary system from returning after surgery, whilst looking at any side effects or impacts on quality of life.
The Cancer Centre at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals was the lead site in the UK for this trial, recruiting 19 patients into the study, making us the largest recruiting site and the NHS host site for the trial. The trial was funded by Cancer Research UK and sponsored by the Institute of Cancer Research, London.
Alison led the research for this trial, alongside her role as a Consultant Oncologist at the Cancer Centre at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals. She has also been heavily involved in promoting the study nationally to bring the research community behind a study in this niche patient group.
Alison said: “It has been a fantastic opportunity to work on such a large, practice changing trial. The study was closed early due to the key results being robust enough with 261 patients participating from 71 different centres across the UK. The findings from the study show that adjuvant chemotherapy improves disease free survival significantly, with 71% of patients remaining disease free at two years in the chemotherapy arm, compared with 54% in the surveillance arm. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals have played a pivotal part in leading this study for the UK and I am absolutely thrilled with the results. This study will have a huge impact on both current and future patient’s lives.”
Speaking about multidisciplinary teamwork, Alison commented that forums and events like the EMUC significantly contribute to a more effective network among cancer specialists. “Meetings like this are so important – not just to keep up to date but to hear what is going on, what the next stages might be, and to network with colleagues so that we can join in cutting-edge research at an early stage.”
EMUC18 focused on clinical difficulties, current opportunities, advances and future prospects in genito-urinary cancers. Now in its 10th year, the EMUC congress has established its reputation as the leading platform for professional and scientific exchanges.
Karen Partington, Chief Executive at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals said: “We are delighted that we are able to play such a big part in innovation and in developing ground-breaking treatments and results for the future through involvement in such practice changing clinical trials. We are committed to research and innovation within our hospitals, and to have such great results in this trial is absolutely fantastic and a credit to Alison and the teams involved.”