by David James is the director of patient projects and influence on prostate cancer research
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer that currently affects men in Great Britain. Last year, more than 55,000 men were diagnosed in England (where we have the latest data). It is also the second most common cause of death caused by cancer, with more than 12,000 men in Great Britain die from the illness every year. Unfortunately, projections indicate that this number will only increase in the next 15 years.
My motivation to get involved in this area is actually triple. My mother died of brain cancer at a very young age. I saw the effects that was caught late and the effects on my life and the life of our family. I have an uncle who developed prostate cancer (he is doing well now), and my father was also diagnosed very early recently, so that he is monitored.
We currently have the informed selection system that is technically the prostate cancer risk management program. If you have no symptoms, but are over 50 years old, you can request a PSA blood test from your family doctor (this measures a substance that occurs naturally in the prostate – a high score can be an indicator of cancer, but also have no to do with each other). Younger men should be able to apply for a test if they are also in a high risk category. You should receive the test as soon as you have been advised on the advantages and disadvantages.
The problem with this approach is really the instructions that are understood quite poorly by members of the public and clinicians. The instructions lead to enormous inequalities in the system. There are examples of men who are rejected again and again, sometimes cancer that could have been caught early.
Why are men not tested?
I recently spoke to a man in the late 40. His name is Mark, he has three children and was diagnosed in an advanced stage. He had tried to receive a test and was rejected. This is due to the confusion of these guidelines. Although he was under 50, he was in a group of high risk because he has a family history of the disease.
If members of their family had prostate cancer, they are a high risk. When they are black, they are about twice as often the disease. There are also certain gene mutations that increase the risk. We interviewed GPS and many know nothing about the categories with a higher risk. Therefore, there is an inconsistency in the way the guidelines are implemented.
Doctors should advise patients about the possible damage and advantages of various treatments and the restrictions of the PSA blood examination. As with any other health problem, it should be from the individual to make a well -founded decision – the system is designed for this. However, a family doctor may not be up to date with the latest diagnostic and treatment techniques or has a historical objection to screening.
James calls for a targeted prostate cancer screening program for high -risk groups -David Rose
When a man has built up the courage to ask his family doctor to test and be granted to go away, this undermines her attempts to proactively be about your health. Prostate cancer in the early stages is usually symptomless. If we don’t want people to die of an illness in the late stage, the key is to catch them before the symptoms occur.
People who are more wealthier and more healthy will actively search for the test and be persistent until they get them because they know their rights (or they have already tested their privately). In men from areas of socio -economic deprivation, 29 percent more often with a late stage, incurable prostate cancer is diagnosed.
It is very different from being invited to be invited to a test as part of a screening program. We spoke to many people. I think to receive an official letter from the NHS or your doctor that this is a risk that we want to keep an eye on, she will feel encouraged. If you officially drop something through your mailbox, the fear of unnecessary to worry about a busy family doctor, for example.
Since 2019, the instructions in Great Britain have been that a patient should decide an MRI scan if he has an increased PSA level. And this MRI scan was a massive player because the MRI is really good to filter out people who do not have the disease. This avoids sending patients for unnecessary biopsies.
However, no test is perfect. No test is exactly when picking up all Who has the disease, but it is certainly better than nothing to do, and we believe that the evidence shows a significant reduction in the damage and the advantages of screening.
Next generation tests
There was afraid of over -treatment because screening reveals people with low cancer. We now see that more than 90 percent of these people carry out active surveillance, where they receive a follow-up PSA and MRI every six to 12 months. If you have a slowly growing cancer, you can live your life healthy without problematic symptoms and die at the age of age. But if it starts to grow and become problematic, then they are in the system. We can catch and treat it early before it spreads and becomes terminally.
Our investigations have shown that the screening of people in high -risk proposals is inexpensive. Treatment of advanced cancer is ten times more expensive than treatment in the first stage. We are calling for a targeted prostate cancer screening program for high-risk groups.
The NHS costs of a PSA test are around 33 GBP, so that we can implement this pretty quickly and record prostate cancer at the beginning of these groups. We invest for the general population of over 50 in a few real evidence. We should carry out pilots through the next generation of tests. If we are confident that the new tests are effective, we can run all men over 50 universal tests. Too many men unnecessarily die from an illness if we know that tests and previous recognitions can save lives.
The NHS works with the aim of catching 75 percent of all types of cancer early. Currently only about half of the prostate cancer are diagnosed in phases one and two. So if the NHS is to achieve its goal, given the significant prostate cancer, this goal will be impossible to achieve, unless we break the back of the late diagnosis.
The decision is currently being checked by the government’s screening committee and you will report again this year. This is also considered in Europe and the USA.
The world is currently watching us. I really hope that Britain can be a leading leader.
As Phil Hilton tells
