Nurse practitioner from Middlesbrough becomes first in the world to insert prostate implant

The James Cook University Hospital is leading the way as the first advanced nurse practitioner is to insert SpaceOAR® hydrogel into the space between the prostate and the rectum before treatment to reduce radiation exposure and minimise damage to healthy tissue, under local anaesthetic.

Previously the gel, which has been clinically proven to significantly reduce bowel side effects, as well as showing a trend towards reducing bladder side effects and erectile dysfunction, was only inserted by consultants.

It was made available at James Cook, the leading centre for SpaceOAR®, thanks to the NHS Innovation Technology Payment (ITP) programme which is driven by NHS England to help fund technology innovative market-ready medical devices, diagnostics, digital platforms and technologies that have demonstrated improvement to the quality of patient care and clinical outcomes.

Almost 100 patients have already benefited from insertion of a rectal SpaceOAR® at the Middlesbrough hospital.

In addition, suitable patients with prostate cancer can now also receive Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy (SABR), delivering very high doses of radiotherapy over a shorter period of time with a rectal SpaceOAR® which reduces the number of treatment sessions from twenty to only five with no detriment to clinical outcome along with further rectal protection.