FAST-Forward Boost - A randomised clinical trial testing a 1-week schedule of curative simultaneous integrated boost radiotherapy against a standard 3-week schedule in patients with early breast cancer.

Research summary

Each year in the UK, around 37,000 patients have radiotherapy for breast cancer. Radiotherapy uses radiation to kill cancer cells. Radiotherapy is given to the breast and, if needed, to the lymph node regions in daily doses. Until recently most patients needed at least 15 daily treatments of radiotherapy. In addition, around 10,000 women per year in the UK needed up to 8 extra radiation treatments to the part of the breast where the cancer was, resulting in a total of 23 days of treatment. This extra treatment is called a boost. This boost has been shown to further reduce the chance of breast cancer coming back in the breast. Young patients and those with slightly higher risk cancer are most likely to benefit from boost treatment. We will invite 4830 people with breast cancer from over 40 UK radiotherapy centres to take part. Participants will be randomised to one of three groups. • One group will have a boost dose at the same time as a daily radiotherapy dose over 15 days. • Two groups will have a boost dose at the same time as a daily radiotherapy dose over 5 days. These two groups will have a different boost dose. One-third of all people in this research study will have standard boost treatment over 15 days and two-thirds will have the boost treatment over 5 days. We will collect information about side effects, changes to the treated breast, spells of extreme tiredness and other changes to quality of life. We will look at the cost of treatment to people and the NHS. This research study aims to show that the 5-day treatment is as good at stopping cancer returning as 15-day treatment. We also aim to show that side-effects will be the same or less and that people recover faster after 5-day treatment.

Principal Investigator

Dr Sileida Oliveros

Contact us

Email: latephaseoncology@ouh.nhs.uk

IRAS number

341881