Promising results from the MASTERPLAN clinical trial are a reminder of what our supporters help make possible: access to research that could improve treatment for people with gut cancer.
Thanks to our donors, Gut Cancer Foundation contributed $25,000 to support access to MASTERPLAN for five patients across two sites in Christchurch and Wellington. These patients joined a study involving 74 people across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
The trial explored whether adding a precise form of radiation treatment to chemotherapy could help people with pancreatic cancer that had not spread to distant parts of the body but was difficult or unlikely to be removed successfully through surgery.
What did the trial find?
The treatment, called stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), delivers targeted, high doses of radiation to a tumour while limiting radiation to nearby healthy tissue.
At 12 months, cancer had returned or progressed in the pancreas or surrounding area in around 20% of people who received SBRT and chemotherapy, compared with 52% of those who received chemotherapy alone.
People who received SBRT also lived longer before their cancer progressed. These are encouraging findings, but a larger trial is needed to confirm the benefits, including whether the treatment helps people live longer overall.
Our supporters are part of this progress
Research takes time, collaboration and the willingness of patients to take part. It also takes people who believe better outcomes are possible and choose to help.
To everyone who supported this work: thank you. You helped give New Zealand patients access to an important clinical trial and contributed to knowledge that could shape future pancreatic cancer treatment.
Read the trial results from GI Cancer Trials and learn about GCF’s support for MASTERPLAN.