dr. Elise De Bleser (MD)
MD Urology resident - Department of Urology (UZ Gent)
PhD researcher - Department of Radiation oncology and experimental cancer research (UGent)
Principal Investigator: prof. Piet Ost (MD, PhD)
Research focus
Oligometastases have been described for over two decades, and this in different types of solid tumors. It is defined as less than three to five metastases, depending on the literature. It can be considered as an intermediate state of cancer, which is situated between localized, non-metastatic cancer and aggressive polymetastatic cancer. In literature the prognostic difference in the number of metastases has been illustrated. However, patients presenting with oligometastatic prostate cancer are currently considered incurable like polymetastatic prostate cancer. These patients are treated with adrogen-deprivation therapy (ADT), a hormonal treatment option lowering the testosterone level, the main nutrition of the tumor, bringing these patients in a state of chemical castration. The problem with this treatment - besides the side effects including impotence, loss of libido and depression - is that after a certain amount of time the tumor becomes resistant to this therapy (castration-resistant prostate cancer - CRPC). In that case, the patient becomes progressive and is in need of new line treatments. Recent research has showed that by treating the oligometastases in a metastasis-directed therapy (MDT), the disease could be controlled during a longer period of time, with the consequence of deferring ADT and its side effects. MDT can consist of local surgery or high-dosed radiotherapy. With this rationale, it seems plausible that MDT is responsible for a longer CRPC free survival and overall survival. However, only retrospective data support the use of MDT. Therefore MDT should still be considered investigational.
With this research, it is our aim to contribute to the knowledge of treating oligometastatic prostate cancer.
Key publications
- 'Radiotherapy as metastasis-directed therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer'. Current opinion in urology, 2017 (PMID: 28816714)
Contact & links
- Lab address : Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Gent, poli urologie
- Department of urology
- Department of radiation oncology and experimental cancer research