February 6, 2017 – Researchers at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust will join forces with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to improve radiotherapy treatment for patients with lung cancer.
New funding has been announced as part of a £7 million package from Yorkshire Cancer Research, which is the biggest regional medical research charity in the UK. Their investment in ground-breaking initiatives aims to improve lung cancer outcomes and increase early diagnosis in Yorkshire.
Many lung cancer patients are treated with radiotherapy, and while recent advances in this area have led to more people being cured, it can lead to severe damage to the heart.
The study, funded by a £272,142 investment and led by Professor Corinne Faivre-Finn, Professor Marcel Van Herk and Dr Alan McWilliam from Manchester and Dr Kevin Franks from Leeds, will determine which areas of the heart are most susceptible to damage during radiotherapy, so that these areas can be avoided or protected.
Professor Faivre-Finn, Professor of Thoracic Radiation Oncology at The University of Manchester, said: “Collaborations like this are essential to making progress in cancer research. By bringing together our complementary expertise, we can make a difference to outcomes for patients across the UK.”
Reducing damage to the heart could improve one-year survival rates by around 10% and the findings could be applied in other cancers where radiotherapy is common, such as breast cancer.
Dr Kathryn Scott, Interim Chief Executive at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “We are extremely excited to announce this significant investment in lung cancer and early diagnosis. These projects are the result of an extensive process, involving expert advice from the country’s very best researchers, to determine how the charity can have the biggest possible impact on cancer survival rates in Yorkshire.
“The five successful projects will involve thousands of people and patients across our region, tackling some of the biggest challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of a disease that kills around 14,000 people in Yorkshire every year. They will also bring expertise into the region from some of the best cancer research centres in the country. We are incredibly grateful to all our supporters for making this investment possible.”
