Dear COMPPARE team, participants, stakeholders and friends,
From the moment enrollment was completed on October 31, 2022 we have turned our focus to retention, and I am pleased to report that retention (keeping patients actively on a study) and data collection rates have been excellent.
I am immensely grateful for the hard work and dedication of our study team, our partner organizations, and especially our participants. Going forward, we hope to continue to keep all enrolled patients actively involved in COMPPARE and to collect all outcome data at the appropriate time points. In doing so, we will have the best chance of understanding which type of radiation produces the best outcomes for patients.
So what is next? Since COMPPARE was launched in 2017, new information has emerged that suggests there may be other differences in outcomes between photon and proton radiation in prostate cancer. We would like to answer as many of these questions as possible and preliminary patient surveys sent to our COMPPARE proton and photon cohorts in June will assist our team in this process.
We also plan to apply for funding in 2024 that will make it possible for us to continue COMPPARE patient follow-up over an additional five years. Working together, our efforts will ultimately answer all pertinent outcome questions to guide treatment decisions for future prostate cancer patients, caregivers, their care teams, and insurance companies.
We wish you a safe and happy summer!
In good health,