Newcastle: Access to cutting edge cancer treatment

A recent collaboration between Medical Oncology Research at Calvary Mater Newcastle and the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Hunter New England Local Health District enables local men to get access to a unique trial of a new kind of treatment, up until now just available in capital cities.
The results from the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group (ANZUP) released earlier this year confirmed the effectiveness of a new class of therapy for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Dr Craig Gedye, Senior Staff Specialist Medical Oncology at Calvary Mater Newcastle, explained that prostate cancer that has spread can be treated with hormones and chemotherapy, but in cases where these fail, different treatments are needed.“Giving injections of radioactive drugs has been a standard treatment for thyroid cancer and some rare cancers, but this is a new treatment idea for prostate cancer,” he said.

Dr Natalie Rutherford, Clinical Director of Nuclear Medicine at Hunter New England Local Health District, said it is exciting to be able to bring this advanced nuclear medicine treatment to the Hunter region.

“It is humbling to see that the treatment compared favorably with existing treatments,” she said. “We are keen to explore how we can routinely bring this treatment to men with advanced prostate cancer.”

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