New hope for bowel cancer patients at Ipswich Hospital

It is taking part in a worldwide trial which is boosting survival rates - and giving real hope to patients as they are given the dreadful diagnosis.

Ipswich Hospital is one of 40 across the UK and in some other countries taking part in FoxTrot trials - which are coming forward with new ways of treating the disease.

And that means patients like 72-year-old Sheila Hawes who lives in a village near Eye is able to lead a normal life two years after her treatment.

The first FoxTrot (it's a long medical acronym) was launched many years ago to look at the principle that it's better to give patients chemotherapy before cancer surgery to reduce the risk of the cancer spreading - and because they are more likely to tolerate it better before the surgery than after.

Fox Trot Trials are managed by the Clinical Trials Research Unit at Leeds University and sponsored by Yorkshire Cancer Research. Prof Jenny Seligmann from Leeds and Prof Dion Morton are Chief Investigators.

They have recruited cancer departments from hospitals across the country and from France, Australia, New Zealand, India, Sweden and the Netherlands to take part as well.

Ipswich Hospital currently has 45 patients in the programme.

After the initial trials proved successful a whole family of Fox Trot trials was set up - each looking at different types of patient or at different types of tumour.

In Ipswich the trials are co-ordinated by consultant oncologist Dr Gopalakrishnan Srinivasan - Srini to his colleagues and many of his patients!

Mrs Hawes was the first patient to be put on Fox Trot 3 in Ipswich after she was diagnosed with bowel cancer in August 2022.

She said: "I had no symptoms. I seemed fine. I give blood - and when they tested mine they said it was low on iron and suggested I see my doctor to get some iron tablets.

"He did a blood test which was sent off to be looked at and then I was called in to go for a colonoscopy and they found something that was tested and found to be cancer."

Once she had seen her surgeon she was taken to meet Srini who asked if she would be interested in the Fox Trot 3 trial. That involved her having three rounds of chemotherapy before the surgery.

She said: "I thought, why not? Even if it doesn't help me it might help someone in the future."

Mrs Hawes said getting advice about the effects of chemotherapy was very important - and the reassurance from the team at Ipswich helped to persuade her that the trial was worthwhile.

Six weeks after finishing the chemotherapy, in October, she was operated on and the  tumour was so small it could be removed by a keyhole procedure.

After Christmas 2022 she had to take some pills that "weren't very nice" but since then she has had to have no further treatment although she is still being monitored regularly.

Other Fox Trot trails are targeted at people who are more frail - or who have particular types of tumour.

I had a bowel cancer operation six years ago. It was later discovered that my tumour was linked to a genetic condition called Lynch Syndrome and that it could be treated by immunotherapy.

One of the Fox Trot trails now underway is looking at treating people with my type of tumour with immunotherapy before surgery - and all these trials are looking very promising.

Charlotte Brown, Emma Bell and Debbie Austin who work on the Fox Trot team at Ipswich Hospital. (Image: Paul Geater)

As Srini said, the trails look set to continue as bowel cancer cases increase: "We are now offering more people places on these trials and some people are asking us about them when we discuss their treatment."

At Ipswich Hospital the team working on the trials directly are: Charlotte Brown, Emma Bell, and Debbie Austin – Clinical Research Practitioner.

A vital part of their role is talking to patients, explaining the trials - and monitoring their progress.

They are also supported by surgeons, radiologists, and pathologists at the hospital.