‘Game-changing’ prostate cancer screening may cut deaths by 40pc

PROSTATE cancer screening could be on the horizon, thanks to a “gamechanging trial” that aims to cut deaths from the disease by 40 per cent.

Researchers said the landmark study, which is about to get under way, was “the biggest, most exciting trial in prostate cancer screening and diagnosis” for more than two decades. The trial will mix and match different methods of spotting the disease early, including high speed scans and gene tests, in order to establish which combination is most successful.

Scientists said the findings could pave the way for national screening strategies, while providing information to fast-track treatment.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. About 52,000 men in the UK are diagnosed annually and 12,000 die from it. However, there is no screening programme, amid concern that existing tests are too unreliable.

The £42 million project, involving Imperial College London, University College London, Queen Mary University of London and the Institute of Cancer Research, will recruit more than 300,000 men aged 45 and over to test new methods. Researchers said the new approaches have the potential to be twice as effective as screening methods which have previously been tested, with estimates they could reduce prostate cancer deaths by up to 40 per cent.

Scientists said the Transform trial, funded by Prostate Cancer UK, was a “game changer” because it would allow them to test so many combinations of factors, including genetic markers.

The first phase will involve about 12,500 men, who will be randomised to receive different combinations of Prostate Specific Antigen blood tests, high speed MRI scans (known as a Prostagram) and different types of genetic testing. Men aged between 50 and 75, or from the age of 45 for black men, will be invited to take part by GPS next year. First results are expected in as little as three years.