NHS prostate cancer testing guidelines are ‘outdated’ and costing thousands of lives every year, experts say.
Research shows that new diagnostic methods have reduced the risk of harm from unnecessary biopsies and reduced deaths.
Charity Prostate Cancer UK says this should end the debate over the expansion of the prostate-specific antigen blood test (PSA), which screens for the disease.
It wants GPs to be able to proactively speak to men most at risk of developing prostate cancer and offer them the PSA test.
Currently, many of the 52,000 annual cases are discovered after the cancer has spread, while treatment options are limited.
Studies show that new diagnostic methods have reduced the risk of harm from unnecessary biopsies and reduced deaths (Stock Image)
Studies have now shown that PSA testing reduces the number of men dying from prostate cancer (Stock Image)
Studies have now shown that PSA testing reduces the number of men dying from prostate cancer.
Two new techniques have been critical in reducing the damage: multiparametric MRI scans and transperineal guided biopsies.
Research compared patients diagnosed with elevated PSA levels and subsequently referred for a pre-biopsy MRI, followed by a biopsy if the scan showed abnormalities, with the previous route of diagnosis, which did not include the pre-biopsy MRI.
Fewer men experienced unnecessary biopsies and there was a 90 percent reduction in those who developed sepsis after a biopsy.
MP Clive Efford, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer after a battle to get tested, said: ‘(This) makes it clear that this reluctance from my doctors was outdated.
Diagnosing prostate cancer is now safer and more effective than ever.” The Mail’s End Needless Prostate Deaths campaign raises awareness of the disease.