A shorter course of radiotherapy, administered through fewer, higher intensity doses, is as well tolerated over five years as longer treatment courses for treating prostate cancer, long-term results of a clinical trial show.

A major clinical trial has shown that changing the way radiotherapy is delivered could significantly reduce the side effects associated with radiotherapy treatment for prostate cancer.

Taking a ‘fingerprint’ of the mix of bacteria in the gut can indicate how susceptible individual cancer patients are to gut damage as a result of radiotherapy for prostate and gynaecological cancers, a new study shows.