TRISST (MRC TE24)

Trial of imaging and schedule in seminoma testis

Would it be better to use MRI scans instead of CT scans to monitor men with early stage testicular cancer? And is it safe to use fewer CT scans than we do now?

What is this study about?

The main purpose of this study was to determine the best way of monitoring men who had surgery for early stage testicular cancer. One of the ways we keep an eye on these men involves repeated CT (computed tomography) body scan. We do these scans in order to catch any returning cancers (also known as relapses) as early as possible.

Being scanned by CT involves exposure to X-ray radiation and there are concerns that this may slightly increase risk of other cancers at a later date. Options for minimising this risk include reducing the number of CT scans or using an alternative scanning technique, such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). MRI scanning is a newer way of obtaining similar pictures to CT scans, but does not involve exposure to X-ray radiation.

This study assessed:

Whether MRI scans are as effective as CT scans in detecting relapse of testicular cancer
The best number of scans for this type of monitoring.

The main study results showed that MRI scans are just as effective as CT at detecting relapse. They also suggested that the number of scans could safely be reduced. A more detailed summary of the trial results can be found on the Cancer Research UK website (TRISST Results Summary).

The results can also be found on the ISRCTN doi here.

Please find the abstracts presented at the NCRI conference here and here.