A researcher from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey has received a $1 million grant from Gateway for Cancer Research to evaluate the effects of surgically removing the prostate in men with metastatic prostate cancer.
Urologic Oncology Chief Isaac Yi Kim, MD, PhD, MBA, received the grant to support a clinical trial that will enroll participants from two dozen academic institutions in the in the United States and certain Asian countries and regions, including Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
“I am grateful for this support from Gateway for Cancer Research, as results of this study could lead to more precise and personalized care for men who present with metastatic prostate cancer and, possibly, improve their survival rates,” Kim said in a press release.
For three years 190 patients in the randomized study will receive either chemo-hormonal therapy, or therapy plus cytoreductive surgery that removes both the prostate and surrounding cancerous cells. Kim and his team will measure and compare the impact these treatments have on a patient’s disease and quality of life.
Until the end of this New Year, the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program estimates that 161,000 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Of those, about 98.6 percent will survive more than five years past their diagnosis. However, for those patients whose cancer will spread and become metastasized to lymph nodes or other organs, only 29 percent are likely to survive more than five years after diagnosis.
Clinical trial participation is a key element of therapeutic discovery. To increase trial adhesion, the nonprofit organization Gateway for Cancer Research is funding cancer research that helps people with cancer to feel better, live longer, and conquer cancer.
The nonprofit also has an innovative program that allows donors to fund treatment days for one patient enrolled at one Gateway-funded clinical trials. One day costs $16.56, one week costs $115.92, and one month costs $496.80. Interested persons can donate here to help fund this program.
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