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A treatment pioneered at Peter Mac is emerging as the new standard of care for patients with inoperable kidney cancers. It involves a highly precise form of radiotherapy, and overturns previously held views that radiotherapy was not effective against kidney cancer.
Peter Mac’s Associate Professor Shankar Siva led the use of “SABR” (Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy) to treat inoperable primary renal cell carcinoma. He says targeting these kidney cancers with SABR has been shown to effectively eradicate tumours, prevent spread, and trigger long-term remissions in patients.
“This is a remarkable new treatment option, as patients with inoperable kidney cancer have few options for cure,” Associate Professor Siva says.
“SABR was found to be very effective with a 92 percent cancer specific survival at five years. The body of evidence is compelling, SABR should now form part of the treatment guidelines for primary renal cell carcinoma.
“Peter Mac was a leader in pioneering this new treatment in primary kidney cancer and we are very proud to have helped advance patient care and improve outcomes.”
In October, Assoc Professor Siva presented the long-term efficacy and safety results of the International Radiosurgery Oncology Consortium of the Kidney (IROCK) study at the ASTRO meeting in San Antonio, USA. A paper containing these results has also been published in The Lancet Oncology.
The IROCK study has long-term follow-up data after SABR from 13 centres, of which Peter Mac is the lead institution. Of 190 patients with primary renal cell carcinoma treated with SABR, only 5.5 percent of patients' cancers had regrown, and healthy kidney function was maintained.
“Renal cell carcinoma is increasing in incidence with our ageing population and unfortunately an operation to remove the cancer is not possible for many patients with kidney cancer,” Associate Professor Siva says.
“This leaves patients, especially those with larger primaries, with little to no treatment options until the development of SABR and the expansion of its use into kidney cancer.”
For more information or to arrange an interview, call the Communications team on 0417 123 048.
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Associate Professor Paul Beavis, fundamental cancer researcher and immunologist at Peter Mac, has received a grant from the Cancer Council Victoria to look at ways to enhance the efficacy of a form of immune based cancer treatment known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.
CAR T-cell therapy involves the genetically engineering of T-cells, part of your immune system, to recognise and destroy cancer cells. However, some tumour cells can escape detection through the loss of the protein targeted by the CAR.
CAR T-cell therapy is effective in some blood cancers, with patients achieving remission from their cancer when other treatments have failed.
However, this approach is currently not effective in solid cancers partly because solid tumours can adapt to avoid detection by CAR T-cells as they stop expressing the protein that engineered cells target.
The research project, funded by a Cancer Council Victoria Venture Grant, aims to engineer immune cells to express both a CAR and additional factors designed to activate the patient’s own immune system and train it to identify the tumour using different proteins, so it can ‘join’ the attack against the tumour.
It is hoped that this new CAR T-cell therapy could eventually be taken to the next stage and tested in the clinic. If successful, it has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes in a range of solid tumour types (e.g., lung, ovarian, breast) where CAR T-cell therapy is yet to be as effective as it is in the treatment of blood cancers.
The Cancer Council Victoria funded four promising research projects to support the brightest cancer researchers in Victoria.
Congratulations to Associate Professor Beavis on his grant and the recognition that he is receiving for his brilliant research.
To learn more about CAR T-cell therapy view an educational video created by Dr Maja Divjak at Peter Mac.
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Art therapist Matilda (Tilly) Dawson is passionate about helping patients connect with their creativity.
Having worked in oncology at the Royal Children’s Hospital since 2017, Tilly now divides her time between the two hospitals.
Tilly utilises her Masters of Art Therapy and psycho-oncology training to develop a new art therapy inpatient program for Peter Mac, while sharing this special form of therapy with patients.
At a time when people sometimes feel powerless, art therapy can help patients relax, reconnect with their sense of self, and experience a sense of control and mastery.
It also helps patients to detangle thoughts, Tilly describes this as, “getting it out of your brain and onto the page”.
“Art therapy is not about making a finished product or making something aesthetically beautiful, it’s about the process of art making and its therapeutic benefits,” she explains.
“It’s about exploring different mediums. We’re trained to know which mediums illicit different emotions and experiences. Watercolour is very calming and relaxing. If we want to calm your emotions we’ll use a fluid medium like painting, and if you need tactile engagement or need get something out, we might use a clay or a medium with physical resistance.”
“We often reflect throughout the art making, and if the patient would like to share some insights at the end, I can take them through the process of exploring their work.”
Art therapy is often provided at a patient’s bedside with sessions varying in length from 30 to 90 minutes.
Patients who are experiencing loss of function or are feeling unwell can participate, with Tilly delivering what is called ‘Art on the Behalf’ therapy – that is, working with patients to create art under their direction.
“Often people can’t believe what they can do or how well they can engage,” Tilly says.
“I think when you see somebody in absolute awe and pride at what they can create after having such a long time of not engaging with artwork or losing function or control…it’s such a beautiful gift.
Peter Mac also offers drop-in group art therapy sessions for patients and carers, on Wednesday afternoon in the Wellbeing Centre on level 1 (Parkville). Find more information here.
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“Scientists in the Clinic” has returned at Peter Mac after a COVID hiatus. For the remainder of the month, ten scientists will be embedded in clinical and other front-line hospital roles.
They are shadowing clinicians in outpatient clinics and on ward rounds, and attending multi-disciplinary meetings, to gain insights into the patient experience and inspire new avenues for research.
Research Education Program Manager Claudie Thia said it was about building a culture of collaboration and stronger ties between scientists and clinicians at Peter Mac.
“When we first ran this in 2019 as a pilot, the feedback was that it really expanded the scientists’ understanding of the hospital and how patients and clinicians interact,” Ms Thia says.
‘Peter Mac is in a unique position with a research institute and cancer hospital in one site, and this program exemplifies our ‘bench to bedside” model of advancing the treatment of cancer.”
At the start of the program, the scientists go on a familiarisation tour taking in parts of Peter Mac they have typically never been to before.
Ultimately, the goal is to foster more cross-discipline communication that can help identify potential areas for translational and other research collaborations.
Contacts:
For more information contact the Peter Mac Communications team on 0417 123 048.
About Peter Mac:
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is a world-leading cancer research, education and treatment centre and Australia’s only public health service solely dedicated to caring for people affected by cancer.
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Peter Mac Clinical Nurse Educator Trevor Saunders shares his nursing story and explains the new Nursing Professional Practice Model he was instrumental in developing.
Peter Mac Clinical Nurse Educator Trevor Saunders shares his nursing story and explains the new Nursing Professional Practice Model he was instrumental in developing.
Trevor is a long-time cancer nurse who has worked at Peter Mac for many years, but has extensive experience across other hospital settings.
Initially working mainly with patients receiving radiotherapy before working in our Lung, Urology, and Head and Neck units, Trevor was seven years into his career when he decided that cancer nursing was his passion.
Although he wasn’t initially sure what cancer nursing was until he was doing it, Trevor explains, “There was something about the complexity of the disease and the complexity of the interventions. Although I think I fell into it, I stayed.”
Trevor now works in Peter Mac’s Academic Nursing Unit, which offers many education options - from undergraduate to postgraduate - to guide nurses in developing their cancer nursing knowledge and practical skills.
As lead of the Advancing Nurse Practise Committee, Trevor was instrumental in developing Peter Mac’s new Nursing Professional Practice Model.
The model has been designed to help nurses like Trevor plan a career path and advance their knowledge, skills, and attributes – it is an approachable tool that nurses can use to look ahead, no matter where they are in their career.
“We wanted to provide nurses with a road map to help them understand where they are, where they could be and how to get there.” Trevor explains, “And build the cancer nursing workforce to meet the demands of the patients and carers that we see every day.”
“The aim was to revise the previous model to make it more flexible,” says Trevor, emphasising that it can be useful for nurses both at and outside of Peter Mac.
The model sets out the values that underpin nursing care at Peter Mac and the four fields of patient care, leadership, education, and research. Alongside these are the levels of performance that nurses can move through in each field, from novice to expert.
The model was presented at the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia’s 24th Annual Congress in Brisbane in June, where it was met with great interest by the Australian cancer nursing community.
Reflecting on his career so far, Trevor says that his commitment and enthusiasm for cancer nursing springs from his belief, “that it’s about bringing everything together and being true to the aim of being holistic. It’s not just about the technical aspects - it’s learning how to work with people who are facing a really terrible time.”
Asked what has kept him inspired, he explains, “Cancer care and cancer nursing hasn’t stood still, I like that. That and the reality of what you’re doing; looking after patients and carers who are at a really important time in their lives.”