Wales Online - CANCER survivors suffering from the side-effects of radiotherapy are being urged to sign up to a new clinical trial.
The research, which is being sponsored by the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), will examine the benefits of oxygen therapy.
It is open to patients who have had radiotherapy in the pelvic area.
While most patients return to normal within a few weeks of finishing radiotherapy, about 30% develop long-term bowel problems that impact on their quality of life.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat scuba divers who suffer the bends, and it is also given to elite sportsmen after an injury to help them heal more quickly.
Several small studies suggest high pressure oxygen can permanently improve the side-effects of radiotherapy in patients who are treated for cancers of the cervix, womb, ovary, prostate, testis, rectum or bladder.
One of the trial centres is the Spire Cardiff Hospital.
John Yarnold, professor of clinical oncology at the Royal Marsden and the ICR, said: ÒItÕs very difficult for patients who have already coped with cancer and radiotherapy to be left with these side-effects.
ÒWe are looking to try to answer once and for all whether hyperbaric oxygen therapy reverses symptoms.Ó
The treatment lasts 90 minutes and is given five days a week for eight weeks.
For more information contact the Sue Martin on 0208 661 3273/3460/3986 or e-mail sue.martin@icr.ac.uk
Click here to view article online
