Prostate cancer screening programme could be given the green light this week in game-changing opportunity to save thousands of lives
The first NHS screening program for prostate cancer could be given the green light this week, marking a game-changing opportunity to save thousands of lives.
On Thursday, the Government’s National Screening Committee (NSC) will meet to make a decision that could revolutionize early diagnosis and treatment.
The country’s leading oncologists, economists and medical ethicists are expected to issue a recommendation on whether widespread screening should be done to catch the disease earlier.
But it will likely only be approved for people at highest risk, such as those with a family history or certain genes.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease in men, with around 63,000 diagnoses and 12,000 deaths in the UK each year.
The Daily Mail has long campaigned for a national screening program similar to that for breast, bowel and cervical cancer.
The call was backed by Olympic cyclist great Sir Chris Hoy, who was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in September 2023.
The NHS currently uses PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood tests and MRI scans to check for the disease.
Daily Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate cancer deaths and called for a national screening program to be launched
There have previously been concerns that screening could lead to overdiagnosis; but advances in technology now mean this is less of a problem.
Major research has found that prostate cancer screening reduces the risk of death from the disease by 13 per cent, leading to a ‘sustained’ decline in deaths over several decades.
Researchers from the University Medical Center Rotterdam discovered that one death in every 456 men invited for PSA tests was prevented.
Writing in the New England Journal Of Medicine, the team said their study ‘highlights the need for a more targeted strategy’.
Meanwhile, a separate study found the health service could offer targeted prostate cancer checks for just £18 per patient; This is less than the cost of breast cancer screening.
A targeted screening program would likely increase demand for PSA blood tests, MRI scans and biopsies by 23 per cent, which would be ‘manageable’ with a small increase in NHS staff, Prostate Cancer Research said in its report.
‘We now have very strong evidence for retrospective screening,’ says David James, one of the charity’s directors, adding: ‘No one should have to die just because their cancer wasn’t found in time.’
The most likely outcome of Thursday’s committee meeting would be a targeted screening program for men at highest risk for prostate cancer, including black men, those with a family history of the disease or those with certain genetic mutations.
The NHS currently uses PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood tests and MRI scans to check for the disease (file image)
Chiara De Biase, Director of Prostate Cancer UK Healthcare, told the Daily Mail: “The recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee will be a pivotal moment in the history of men’s health in this country and it cannot come too soon.”
‘Prostate cancer can be treated if diagnosed early, but 12,000 of our fathers, brothers, sons and friends die from this cancer every year.
‘Although it is the most common cancer in the UK, it is the last major cancer for which there is no screening programme.
‘We have reached a tipping point in the UK, with too many men dying from a treatable disease and worse outcomes for men at higher risk, such as black men and men from working-class communities. “It’s time for a change.”
Last week the first men were invited to take part in a ‘game-changing’ prostate cancer screening trial that will compare combinations of the most promising techniques.
More than 300,000 men will be enrolled in the £42 million Transform project, the largest prostate cancer screening trial in 20 years.
Around 16,000 men will be recruited for the first phase, which will compare a mix of PSA tests, genetic saliva tests and rapid MRI scans to the current NHS diagnostic method.
The approaches that prove most effective will then be tested in a much larger group.
Sir Chris Hoy has called for systemic changes to the way men diagnosed with prostate cancer are tested
Health minister Wes Streeting said the launch of the trial was a ‘turning point’, with the possibility of more patients being diagnosed earlier, at a time when the disease is easier to treat and the chances of survival are higher.
‘When the UK National Screening Committee shares its initial findings on prostate cancer screening, I will carefully consider its recommendations as I am determined to create change,’ he said.
A screening program – if recommended – is thought to take three to five years to implement.
Professor Nick James said PSA screening was getting stronger and added that the data was ‘already sufficient’ for a national programme.
Former Conservative chancellor Rishi Sunak argued that a prostate cancer screening program would have an ‘intergenerational impact’ on men’s health, adding: ‘It is time to move from reactive care to proactive prevention.’
