'I get to continue watching my children grow up': Cork cancer trial to provide more personalised treatment
A new cancer trial called the Melody trial is launching at Cork University Hospital to provide more personalized treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer. The study uses routine blood tests to identify genetic characteristics of tumors, aiming to tailor therapies and reduce the need for invasive procedures.
Why it matters
Personalized medicine approaches like the Melody trial can significantly improve patient quality of life and treatment efficacy for metastatic cancers.
Breakthrough Cancer Research CEO Orla Dolan, UCC professor Roisin Connolly, and Dr Emer Lynch, Breakthrough Clinical Cancer Research Fellow at UCC, at the launch of the Melody trial at CUH. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision
A woman who underwent brain surgery after breast cancer spread to her brain has welcomed a new cancer trial in Cork , saying she hopes it will help other patients avoid some of the uncertainty she faced.
The trial opens in October and will run for an initial two years with patients at Cork University Hospital.
Aislinn Higgins, 48, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, which advanced and spread to her brain. Now undergoing treatment and hoping to see her 11-year-old twin daughters grow up, she described the new initiative as "a really positive step".
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