Radiotherapy and late effects
With regard to late effects of radiotherapy, Professor Sara Faithfull, Professor of Cancer Nursing Practice leads research related to supportive and palliative cancer care centering on and around survivorship, nursing interventions and health evaluation within the practice setting.
Current projects are in urology and gynaecology, developing and testing self management strategies, assistive technology in palliative radiotherapy and nurse-led approaches to supportive care. She is particularly interested in developing an evidence base for supporting cancer patients in the transition through cancer therapy especially following completion of initial treatment and follow-up. Current and ongoing research is funded by Dimbleby and is an evaluation of behavioural and self management techniques in men with prostate cancer (BUMPS study).
The University of Surrey also works closely with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in developing methods for measuring radiation dose to radiotherapy patients more accurately. One such project aims to create a novel detector for microdosimetry of ionising radiation using superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) technology building on existing research carried out at the NPL.
The ultimate goal is the realisation of a new physical quantity, as advised by the Bureau International Measure et Poids (BIPM), which is more closely related to the biological effect of radiation than the presently used quantity, absorbed dose. This work is funded by the National Institute of Health Research, Invention for Innovation programme.