Prostate cancer cases rise as more men contact their GPs

PROSTATE CANCER is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK, according to new figures.

Data analysed by the charity Prostate Cancer UK shows the disease has overtaken breast cancer to be the most commonly diagnosed form, with 57,192 new cases in 2018, the most recent data available.

Prostate Cancer UK said the news comes a decade earlier than previously predicted, largely due to increased awareness which has led to more men getting diagnosed.

Analysis of the new figures suggests new cases of prostate cancer have more than doubled over the last 20 years, while around 400,000 men in the UK are currently living with the disease or have survived it.

More prostate cancers are now being caught at the locally advanced stage (stage three), when the disease is more treatable than if it has spread.

However, more men are also being diagnosed at early stage one, when the cancer may never cause harm during their lifetime, and therefore close monitoring rather than aggressive treatment is recommended.

Prostate UK chief executive Angela Culhane said: “While it’s good news that more men have been having conversations with their GPs and being diagnosed earlier, it only serves to reinforce the need not only for better treatments which can cure the disease, but for better tests that can differentiate between aggressive prostate cancer that needs urgent treatment and those which are unlikely to ever cause any harm.

“We need research now more than ever, which is why it really is devastating that so much of it has been brought to a standstill by the Covid-19 crisis.

“Accelerating research to recover from this major setback will cost millions, but at the same time we’re predicting an unprecedented drop in our fundraising due to the impact of the pandemic.”

Symptoms of the cancer include burning or pain during urination, difficulty urinating, trouble starting and stopping while urinating, more frequent urges to go to the toilet at night, loss of bladder control, poor flow and blood in the urine.