25
Jan 2017
Biggest leap in prostate cancer testing ‘in decades’
Campaigners and doctors have hailed new MRI scanning equipment as a ‘huge leap’ in prostate cancer testing, and have said that using the advanced system nearly doubles the number of aggressive tumours that are caught.
The trial, published in the Lancet medical journal, involved 576 men and showed that over 25 per cent could be treated without the use of invasive biopsies and their potentially serious side-effects.
Prostate cancer affects more British men than any other cancer and current testing for the disease has many flaws. If patients are presenting with high prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, they are referred for a biopsy, wherein 12 needles are used to take samples from the prostate. This technique can miss cancers, fail to spot whether they are aggressive and can also cause side effects such as infections, erectile dysfunction and bleeding.
Between 100,000 and 120,000 men undergo these procedures each year in the UK.
This trial used multi-parametric MRI on patients with high PSA levels and showed that 27 per cent of the men did not need a biopsy at all.
Dr Hashim Ahmed, one of the researchers, and consultant at University College London Hospitals, said “This is a significant step-change in the way we diagnose prostate cancer.
“We have to look at the long-term survival, but in my opinion by improving the detection of important cancers that are currently missed, we could see a considerable impact.
“But that will need to be evaluated in future studies, and we may have to wait 10 to 15 years.”
Prostate Cancer UK’s chief executive Angela Culhane, said that the current system was “notoriously imperfect.”
She went on to say “This is the biggest leap forward in prostate cancer diagnosis in decades.”
The NHS is reviewing whether the scans can be introduced widely across the UK.
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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
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