Three tiny golden beads could be the secret to more effective treatment of patients with prostate cancer, thanks to a trial underway in Birmingham.

The beads, each only 3mm long, are the key to a technique being trialled at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy in treating a condition which killed more than 10,000 men in 2008.

The trial centres on the problem of accurately targeting the prostate with beams of radiation, a key element in treating certain types of prostate cancer. The prostate can move and rotate slightly between treatments, so before each session of radiotherapy, a patient undergoes scans to establish the co-ordinates for delivering the radiation.

But the prostate is difficult for those scanners to differentiate from surrounding organs, including the bladder and rectum.

The new technique involves the implanting of the three golden beads into the prostate. The beads are much denser than the prostate and the surrounding tissue, so provide easily identifiable points of reference on CT scans.

The trial programme is led by oncology consultants Daniel Ford and Anjali Zarkar, and has so far treated three patients.

Dr Zarkar said: “The trial has gone well so far, and ultimately we want this treatment to become the standard of care for prostate cancer.

“Funding is the key and we have had funding from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity to do the first 10 patients.”

The process is a complex one, involving a team which includes specialist nurses, radiographers and oncologists, as well as medical scientists and researchers.

All three of the patients who have undergone the treatment so far were pleased with how it had gone.

One explained how he was proud to help pioneer such an important treatment trial: “I’m one of the first to receive the implants, so I know it’s a bit of an unknown but my treatment has been superb and I’m glad to be part of such an important trial.

“The staff were superb: friendly, chatting about life but also very, very professional. We wanted the best treatment but it’s not just about the treatment; it’s about the follow-up and that has been superb.”

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) Charity funds equipment, research and training which is over and above that which the NHS provides and aims to make a difference to the lives of patients, visitors and staff at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB). To find out more please visit the QEHB Charity website.