Thousands of men diagnosed with prostate cancer will soon have access to a more precise form of radiotherapy through the NHS that requires only five treatment sessions.
According to NHS estimates, up to 3,500 men each year could benefit from stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), a highly targeted treatment that delivers radiation beams from multiple angles directly to the tumour while minimising damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
Because SABR uses higher doses of radiation with greater accuracy, the overall number of treatment sessions can be significantly reduced.
NHS England has announced that all 48 radiotherapy centres across England will begin offering SABR to patients with early-stage prostate cancer within the next three months, with some centres expected to start treating patients as early as next week.
Unlike conventional radiotherapy, which typically requires at least 20 treatment sessions, SABR is usually completed in just five sessions over two weeks and is associated with fewer side effects.