Below the Belt Research
ANZUP’s 2021 Below the Belt Research Fund Recipients ANZUP brings together a leading multi-disciplinary network of oncology, surgical, medical, radiation, nursing, psychology and allied health professionals from within the urogenital cancer field to conduct vital research through clinical trials. Clinical trials are essential for discovering new treatments for diseases, as well as new ways to detect, diagnose, and reduce the chance of developing the disease. Clinical trials can show researchers what does and doesn’t work in humans that cannot be learned in animals or in the laboratory, and at the same time test for any potential side effects. Clinical trials are expensive, often costing millions of dollars. ANZUP receives some funding from the Australian Government, and this provides useful support but comes nowhere near covering our basic costs. And importantly, government infrastructure support funds cannot be used to run clinical trials. Every clinical trial we do needs to have its own funding. This is why ANZUP has fundraising events. Some of our fundraising goes to support researchers who do not have other means to support their research. And other funds raised through the Below the Belt events supports ideas that are not yet fully fledged clinical trials but might evolve into them. This is one way we continue to grow ideas for future work. The Below the Belt Research Fund has supported many members in the development of investigator-initiated studies. This year, it has provided much needed seed funding to support four ANZUP members to progress new trial ideas to the point of becoming full scale studies. We would like to congratulate the recipients and following you can read about three of these studies.
DR CIARA CONDUIT, MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST, PETER MACCALLUM CANCER CENTRE
Ciara Conduit: Exploring the activity of pseudoephedrine in treating retrograde ejaculation following retroperitoneal lymph node dissection in survivors of testicular cancer (PREPARE) Testicular cancer (TC) is one of the most common cancers diagnosed in young men in Australia. While most men can expect a positive outcome, treatment can result in long-term side effects. Sometimes after retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND; surgery involving the lymph nodes at the back of the abdomen), important nerves controlling ejaculation can become disrupted. This results in retrograde ejaculation (RE), where sperm flows back into the bladder instead of through the penis after orgasm. It is sometimes called a dry orgasm. Although RE is not harmful or painful, it may affect sensation during orgasm and result in infertility (difficulty conceiving a pregnancy). While RE may resolve spontaneously in some men, it becomes a chronic problem for others and existing treatments are not standardised, nor always helpful or successful. We plan to conduct a pilot study exploring the effectiveness of an oral medication, pseudoephedrine (an ingredient in ‘Cold and Flu’ tablets), to improve RE following RPLND. As pseudoephedrine causes tightening of the bladder muscle, it prevents sperm flowing back into the bladder and thus helps sperm move through the penis. It is therefore a potentially effective treatment for RE. Whilst some studies in men with RE due to other causes have shown pseudoephedrine may be helpful, it is not known how effective this approach is for men with RE after RPLND. We are currently undertaking a study to help understand how common RE is after RPLND, and how it affects men’s health-related quality of life (HRQoL). To follow up, we would like to recruit men with RE following RPLND and explore the effectiveness of pseudoephedrine as a treatment and improve our understanding of the impacts that RE has on HRQoL for survivors of TC.
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