Number of prostate cancer deaths set to rise, warns charity

Deaths from the cancer in the UK could rise by a third, from the 10,900 men it kills every year at the moment, Prostate Cancer UK said.

It has launched a 10-year plan, backed by Professor Robert Winston, to cut cancer deaths and improve diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

A new tool for GPs should be available within the next five years to pick up more cancer cases and prevent too many men undergoing biopsies that may not be needed.

It will use the current PSA (prostate specific antigen) test, which is a blood test that can detect the early signs of an enlarged prostate.

The charity’s director of research, Dr Iain Frame, said the new tool would be built into existing GP computer systems.

“It will let them input information like a man’s age, ethnicity, family history and PSA level, and get back an indication of his individual risk of having aggressive prostate cancer,” he said.

“More than that, it will then give both the man and his doctor a clear idea of what they should do next – whether that’s go straight to a urologist, not to worry about another test for years, or something in between – a bit like a red/amber/green traffic light system.”

The charity’s plan will also look at prevention, including investigating whether there are any events that trigger prostate cancer growth.

Further, it will look at whether diet, exercise or environmental factors impact on prostate cancer, and further research into preventing prostate cancer from returning.

Overall, Prostate Cancer UK wants to halve prostate cancer deaths within a decade.

Professor Winston said: “When you get to my age, prostate cancer is one those things that becomes a real threat.

“So this plan is game-changing.

“If prostate cancer can be brought to a standstill within my lifetime and reduced to something that my sons and my grandsons need not fear, that’s big news.

“But Prostate Cancer UK needs our support to get there.

“We have a historic opportunity which we’d be crazy to miss.”

Prostate Cancer UK’s chief executive Angela Culhane said: “The urgent objective is to shift the science and change prostate cancer from a killer into something a man can live with.

“This is the endgame.

“We’re on the brink of the scientific breakthroughs necessary to stop this disease in its tracks so that by 2026 it won’t pose the threat it does today.

“Right now, prostate cancer kills a man every hour in the UK and that figure is set to rise.

“One in three men diagnosed with the disease currently dies from it, putting survival rates for our men behind most of Europe.

“It’s scandalous and we can’t let it continue.”

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