Precision radiation could significantly reduce progression in patients with advanced prostate cancer, new data shows, following a trial involving 200 men..

An Australian cancer trial that used precision radiation treatment to help men with advanced prostate cancer has shown promising results.

The trial, the world's largest, treated almost 200 men with advanced prostate cancer that had spread to other parts of their body using stereotactic body radiation therapy.

"This new Australian data gives hope to men living with metastatic prostate cancer," Icon Cancer Centre in Melbourne's radiation oncologist Dr Pat Bowden said.

The treatment uses radiation in high doses to target small areas of cancer while sparing healthy tissue.

Up to 50 per cent of patients were free from treatment escalation for two years and no patient experienced any severe long term side effects, results published in the International Journal of Cancer show.

"Unfortunately this is an incurable condition with life expectancy of about five years. It is extremely promising to see precision radiation therapy delay treatment progression for more than two years," he said.

The results showed the precision radiation therapy in cancer care can improve quality and duration and life, the doctor said.

Up to 18,000 men receive a prostate cancer diagnosis each year and 15,000 men are currently living with metastatic prostate cancer.

The study was led by experts from the Icon Cancer Centre and was funded by the Epworth Medical Foundation and the EJ Whitten Foundation.