Combining radiotherapy, minimally invasive surgery and immunotherapy to improve treatment of people with prostate cancer

Professor Richard Bryant

Professor Richard Bryant is a urology consultant with a specialist interest in prostate cancer, based at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences in Oxford. 

Richard’s current research aims to address an important clinical need in prostate cancer treatment. Radiotherapy is often used to treat men with prostate cancer, but unfortunately not all people respond in the same way to this treatment and many people who receive radiotherapy have a long-term reduction of their quality of life after treatment due to its side effects.

Richard’s team is investigating potential new treatment approaches which combine lower doses of radiotherapy with minimally invasive surgery and immunotherapy. It’s hoped that finding the correct balance between these treatments could mean avoiding either major surgery, which removes the whole prostate gland, or the use of higher dose radiotherapy which can damage adjacent organs. If this balance can be achieved, this would lead to first-in-man early phase clinical trials with the possibility of improving outcomes and quality of life for many people with prostate cancer in the future.