Screening methods for prostate cancer tried at ‘crucial moment’

Methods of screening men for prostate cancer will be trialled in a bid to save thousands of lives in Britain every year in what experts have hailed as a “pivotal moment”.

The £42 million project, known as Transform, will compare different screening methods with current NHS diagnostic processes, including blood tests, physical examinations and biopsies.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease without a screening programme, with an estimated 12,000 lives lost each year in Britain.

Previous studies using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests and biopsies to screen for the disease showed the method prevented between 8% and 20% of deaths, depending on the regularity of screening, according to Prostate Cancer UK, that finances the project.

Transform has the potential to reduce deaths by 40%, the charity said.

It is also hoped that the research will help men avoid harm from potentially unnecessary biopsies and treatments.

Dr. Matthew Hobbs, research director at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “We know that earlier diagnosis saves lives, but previous studies have failed to prove that enough men could be saved with PSA tests alone, despite showing that these old screening methods caused significant unnecessary harm to men.

“We now need to prove that there are better ways to find aggressive prostate cancer that will save even more lives and cause less damage.”

The first phase of Transform will involve around 12,500 men and will assess methods including PSA blood tests, genetic tests and a faster version of the MRI scan – known as a Prostagram – against the current diagnostic methods of the NHS to see which performs best.

The second phase of the trial, involving up to 300,000 men, will test the most promising options from the first phase of the trial.

The first results of Transform are expected in three years.

Researchers aim to make the trial as accessible as possible and recruit patients through GPs across the UK from next year.

At least one in ten patients invited to participate will be black, as men of that ethnicity are twice as likely to be diagnosed as other men.

Hobbs said the trial could also “change practice globally”, with the number of lives saved potentially reaching tens of thousands per year.

He added: “This is a pivotal moment in the history of prostate cancer research and we are proud to be leading the way and supporting some of the best researchers in the world to make this happen.”