DARIUS: Dose Accumulation in Re-Irradiation Using Science
Research type
Research Study
Full title
DARIUS: Dose Accumulation in Re-Irradiation Using Science
IRAS ID
307580
Contact name
Louise Murray
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Univeristy of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
This project will use a computer software program to calculate total radiotherapy doses received by healthy tissues in patients who have received two courses of radiotherapy in the same part of the body to understand more about what radiotherapy doses are safe in this setting.
Having a second course of radiotherapy in an area that has already received radiotherapy is called re-irradiation. When giving a patient re-irradiation it’s very important to make sure the radiotherapy doses received by the healthy tissues are not too high as these tissues have already received radiotherapy, and too much radiotherapy can cause side effects. To make the findings valid, the software program will be used to assess radiotherapy data from up to 146 patients from four different UK cancer centres. The patients whose data will be included have already received two radiotherapy courses. These patients received their second course of radiotherapy within a REC-approved NHS scheme called ‘Commissioning through Evaluation’ (CtE), which was designed to evaluate the risks and benefits of re-irradiation in the pelvic area.
Ultimately, this work will help make doctors more confident in working out when the benefits from a second course of radiotherapy outweigh the risks.
Overall project aims:
1. To use a computer software tool called STRIDeR (Support Tool for Re-Irradiation Decisions guided by Radiobiology) to evaluate the total (original plus re-irradiation) radiotherapy doses received by the healthy tissues surrounding a tumour in patients who have received two courses of radiotherapy in the pelvic area. These doses will be evaluated in relation to side effects and subsequently used to generate guidance on acceptable radiotherapy doses for re-occurring cancer in the pelvis.
2. The researchers will share data between centres using a computer platform named XNAT. The second aim is to show that this platform is a suitable method for sharing data.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/YH/0065
Date of REC Opinion
21 Mar 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion