Chief Investigator Dr Nicholas van As, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and Reader at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "At The Royal Marsden and the ICR we are focused on developing smarter, better and kinder treatments for patients across the UK and internationally. Developments in radiotherapy such as SBRT mean we can target tumours much more effectively.

"It is reassuring to see from this trial that SBRT does not significantly impact patients' quality of life in the short term, compared with the current standard of care. Using SBRT to deliver this treatment would mean that patients could be spared numerous visits to hospital, allowing them to get back to their lives sooner."

Dr van As, who is also Medical Director at The Royal Marsden, added: "These results are promising, and for the first time show in a large patient group that giving five large doses of SBRT is safe in the short term. It is important to point out that we will not know for another few years about the long term side effects and outcomes of treatment, and that this treatment technique is still only available in a trial setting in the UK.

Study author Dr Douglas Brand, Research Fellow in Clinical Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said:

"The new results from our clinical trial have shown that a much shorter course of higher-dose radiotherapy does not increase short term side effects compared with the current standard of care.

"If the data on longer-term side effects and efficacy are also positive, we expect our trial could be practice-changing. This would enable us to deliver curative treatment over fewer days - meaning that men would get the same benefit from their radiotherapy while having to spend less time in hospital."

Dr Brand presented the patient outcomes from PACE-B at today's American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting (Tuesday 17 September)

Alfred, 84, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013 at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. He was able to go onto the PACE B trial for his treatment, and was randomised into the group to receive SBRT.

Alfred says: "I only had to go into The Royal Marsden five times over two weeks to have my radiotherapy treatment with CyberKnife. I was made very comfortable and overall - and not something I'd usually associate with cancer treatment - it was a breeze. I didn't have many symptoms afterwards and was able to get back to my life. In the six years since, I've not had to have any further treatment. The Royal Marsden was excellent - I really couldn't have asked for more."

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