A new clinical trial will investigate an accelerated, less burdensome treatment to improve quality of life for people with brain cancer, supported with $1.49 million in funding from the Medical Research Future Fund.
A WEHI-led team of clinicians and researchers will collaborate on the trial, focused on glioblastoma – a highly aggressive and lethal brain cancer with an average survival time of 12 to 18 months.
The five-year national trial will examine the impact on quality of life and patient outcomes of accelerated radiation therapy, reducing the time that patients spend in treatment by one-third.
At a glance
- A new clinical trial will investigate accelerated treatment to improve quality of life for patients with glioblastoma.
- The five-year trial is supported by $1.49m from the Medical Research Future Fund's National Critical Research Infrastructure – Innovative Trials funding scheme.
- Led by WEHI, the national trial will reduce the time patients have to spend receiving radiation treatment by one-third.
Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive brain cancer in adults. More than half of patients will not survive more than two years.
There is no cure for glioblastoma and treatment may involve surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
The new clinical trial will test the impact on patients of four weeks of daily radiation therapy, at a slightly higher dose per session, over the standard six-week course.
The Streamlining GlioblastoMA Radiation Therapy (SMART) trial is led by Dr Joseph Sia, a clinician researcher at WEHI's Brain Cancer Research Laboratory and neuro-radiation oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) and the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH).
"Treatment for brain cancer can be a challenging and exhausting journey – physically and emotionally," Dr Sia said.
"We know time is precious for our patients so if we can cut the days they spend in hospital and give them more time to spend with those they love, this will make an enormous difference to their quality of life."
Collaborative multidisciplinary trial team Dr Sia will lead the multidisciplinary team collaborating on the SMART trial, which includes experts in radiation oncology, medical oncology, neurosurgery, neuro-imaging, health economics research, and biostatistics and bioinformatics.
The team includes WEHI chief investigators Dr Lucy Gately (clinician researcher in WEHI's Personalised Oncology division, The Brain Cancer Centre and Head of Neuro-Oncology at The Alfred Hospital) and Dr Jim Whittle (WEHI laboratory head, neuro-oncologist at Peter Mac and RMH, and Co-Head of Research Strategy at The Brain Cancer Centre).
The nationwide registry-based Phase 3 randomised controlled trial is embedded into the existing clinical registry, Brain Registry Australia: Innovation and TraNslation (BRAIN), and will be run in partnership with the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro Oncology (COGNO).
The trial, which has been funded through the Medical Research Future Fund's National Critical Research Infrastructure – Innovative Trials funding scheme, is expected to commence recruitment this year.
Researchers hope to recruit 330 patients into the trial. Patients that meet the entry criteria will be offered to join the trial by their treating practitioners in participating hospitals.
Other collaborating chief investigators on the SMART trial:
Associate Professor Eng-Siew Koh (Liverpool Hospital, University of New South Wales)
Professor Georgia Halkett (Curtin University)
Professor Haryana Dhillon (University of Sydney)
Dr Elena Meshcheriakova (University of Technology Sydney)
Professor Mark Pinkham (Princess Alexandra Hospital)
Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff (RMH, University of Melbourne)
Professor Martin Ebert (University of Western Australia)
Associate Professor Arian Lasocki (Peter Mac)
WEHI's Brain Cancer Research Laboratory is supported by The Brain Cancer Centre, which was founded by Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer and established in partnership with WEHI with support from the Victorian Government.
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