‘NHS must have prostate tests to treat cancer when curable’

A LEADING surgeon today called for a “targeted screening” programme for prostate cancer to detect more tumours before they become deadly.

Prasanna Sooriakumaran, known as PS, a consultant urological robotic surgeon at University College London Hospital and the Santis Clinic, said the UK had to get closer to early detection rates in the US.

About 90 per cent of men being tested for prostate cancer in the US present when the disease is curable — when it remains confined to the prostate gland.

But this falls to about 80 per cent in the UK — meaning the cancer is only spotted in about one in five men when it has already “metastasised” or spread to other parts of the body and is in an advanced state.

There are NHS population screening programmes for breast, cervical, lung and colorectal cancer but not for prostate cancer. This is mainly due to the chance of detecting low-risk cancers and unnecessarily treating men.

There are about 70,000 new diagnoses of prostate cancer each year and it kills 11,600 men annually.

Mr Sooriakumaran, in an article for the Evening Standard to mark prostate cancer awareness month, said high-risk groups, such as black men in their 50s, should undergo a PSA blood test and internal examination.

Men with an African-Caribbean heritage have a one in four chance of developing prostate cancer within their lifetimes. This increases if a man’s father or brother have had prostate cancer.

Mr Sooriakumaran writes: “If you are a man at risk, please go and get tested. If you are then diagnosed, please go and see one of the experts. It could save your life and with far less impact on your quality of life than you might think.”

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the Western world and the biggest cause of death after lung cancer. However, lung cancer deaths are falling as fewer people smoke, but an ageing population and poorer diets mean prostate cancer cases will rise.