Doctors in Victoria are trying to improve their results from a clinical trial that led to changes in the standard of care for men going through prostate cancer treatment by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence. The follow-up research will form the second stage of a clinical trial from 2017 called ASSERT, which looked at making radiation treatment for men with prostate cancer more efficient and more convenient.
“We looked at a new technology called stereotactic radiotherapy," says BC Cancer-Victoria radiation oncologist Dr. Abe Alexander. "It uses some advanced technologies to focus the radiation more accurately and more precisely so we’re able to give the radiation in a smaller amount of doses, each of which is bigger." The clinical trial from 2017 showed beneficial results where doctors could give patients five radiation treatments rather than 20 to 40. “In fact, people who got the SABR treatment had at least as favourable side effects, perhaps in some ways better than the standard treatment,” says Alexande