Research Interest

Metastatic Disease: Early radiotherapy to prevent spinal cord compression

Spinal cord compression (SCC) is a devastating complication of skeletal metastases. Our studies show this is common, and that spinal MR may be used to detect subclinical SCC in prostate cancer. We are developing a national phase III trial of spinal MR in asymptomatic men with castrate resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases treating subclinical SCC with immediate radiotherapy with the aim of reducing the clinical incidence of SCC.

Time to development of spinal cord compression in a group of 130 men with castrate resistant prostate cancer who had a screening spinal MR scan at the Royal Marsden Hospital: Actuarial rate of SCC development after 24 months is 43%.