Establishing new worldwide standards of care for prostate cancer patients

Cardiff University researchers played leading roles in major clinical trials, which improved the treatment of prostate cancer and influenced the way oncologists monitor their patients and use surgery, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy.

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in the United Kingdom. Previously, some patients received unnecessary treatment that reduced quality of life, while for others, treatment was ineffective.

Professor Malcolm Mason OBE arrived in Cardiff in 1992, with an idea for a clinical trial in prostate cancer.

This first trial was the start of a career-long relationship with what subsequently became the Medical Research Council (MRC) clinical trials unit.

Our understanding and awareness of prostate cancer has changed dramatically since Professor Mason conducted his first clinical trial, and so have treatments and survival thanks in part to the subsequent clinical trials that Professor Mason and his colleagues have worked on.