The first NHS screening programme 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 revolutionise early detection and treatment.
The country’s top oncologists, economists and medical ethicists are expected to give a recommendation on whether to roll out widespread screening in a bid to detect the disease earlier.
But it would probably only be approved for people at the 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 about 63,000 diagnoses and 12,000 deaths each year in the UK.
The Daily Mail has long campaigned for a national screening programme – similar to that in place for breast, bowel and cervical cancer – to be enforced.
This call has been backed by Olympic cycling great Sir Chris Hoy, who was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in September 2023.
The NHS presently uses PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood testing and MRI scans to check for the disease.
Previously, there were concerns that screening could lead to overdiagnosis – but advancements in technology suggest this is now less of a problem.
Significant studies have discovered that screening for prostate cancer cuts the chance of dying from the disease by 13 per cent and leads to a ‘sustained’ reduction in deaths over several decades.
Researchers from the University Medical Centre Rotterdam found that one death was prevented for every 456 men invited for PSA tests.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the team said their study ‘highlights the need for a more targeted strategy’.
Meanwhile, a different study has discovered the health service could offer targeted prostate cancer examinations at just £18 a patient, lower than the cost of breast cancer screening.
The report, from Prostate Cancer Research, said a targeted screening programme is likely to increase demand for PSA blood tests, MRI scans and biopsies by 23 per cent, and this would be ‘manageable’ with a small increase in NHS staff.
David James, a director at the charity, says ‘we now have overwhelming evidence to back screening’, adding: ‘No man should die just because his cancer wasn’t found in time.’
The most probable outcome of Thursday’s committee meeting is a targeted screening programme for men at the highest risk of prostate cancer, including black men, those with a family history of the disease or who have particular genetic mutations.
Any man who has a problem urinating or has a sudden case of incontinence should go to their GP straight away. Numerous men don’t because they just believe it will clear up on its own, especially if they have no discomfort, pain, or they are simply embarrassed.
It’s better to die of embarrassment and go to see your GP than not and just die full stop.
So black men from working-class communities are more likely to get prostate cancer, and here I was thinking it was men of an older age who were at a high risk. Perhaps they’re not considering screening those older men because why bother, they’re going to die soon anyway!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 