Stampede Trial
A large randomised controlled trial investigating men who have advanced or relapsing prostate cancer.
Most men with prostate cancer are given hormone therapy, this is often effective for a short time at stopping the tumour growing. However in most cases over time the tumour will start to grow again.The aim of this trial is to try to prevent the tumour re-growth by adding other treatment to the hormone therapy. The trial is currently using radiotherapy (newly diagnosed metastatic patients only) in combination with hormone therapy. It previously tested abiraterone, celecoxib, docetaxel and/or zoledronic acid. The trial is funded by the charity Cancer Research UK and the pharmaceutical companies; Sanofi-Aventis, Pfizer, Novartis and Jansen.
Randomised Control Trials
In most trials, one group of patients will have the trial treatment and one group will have the standard treatment. The people having the trial treatment are called the trial group and the people having the standard treatment are the control group. The control group is compared against the treatment group. The results of both groups are compared to. A computer decides which treatment you are allocated and your nurse will inform you of this. The reason the trials are conducted this way is to:
- see if there’s any benefit from the new treatment
- see if the side effects are better, worse or different
- measure how much of the improvement in the patients is due to the new treatment and how much would have happened by chance or is due to standard treatment.