Trial shows advances in prostate cancer testing

New scanning equipment has provided the biggest leap in decades for the diagnoses of prostate cancer, a trial in the Lancet has shown.

The major trail, which studied 576 men, showed that using advanced MRI instead of biopsy nearly doubles the number of aggressive tumours that are caught, with 27 per cent of the 576 being spared invasive biopsies, which can lead to severe side-effects such as serious infection and erectile dysfunction.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in British men, with approximately 120,000 men having a biopsy every year in the UK.

Prostate MRI Imaging Study (Promis), which was carried out by researchers at University College London (UCL), also showed that 93 per cent of aggressive cancers were detected by using the MRI scan to guide the biopsy compared with just 48 per cent when the biopsy was done at random.

The study is now being considered by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, contemplating whether it is cost-effective to introduce multi-parametric MRI within the NHS.

Dr Hashim Ahmed from UCL said: “Prostate cancer has aggressive and harmless forms. Our current biopsy test can be inaccurate because the tissue samples are taken at random. This means it cannot confirm whether a cancer is aggressive or not and can miss aggressive cancers that are actually there.

“Because of this some men with no cancer or harmless cancers are sometimes given the wrong diagnosis and are then treated even though this offers no survival benefit and can often cause side effects. On top of these errors in diagnosis, the current biopsy test can cause side effects such as bleeding, pain and serious infections.”

However, freedom of information requests made by Prostate Cancer UK reveal that without urgent action, just a third of eligible men with suspected prostate cancer have access to mpMRI scans in the UK because of a lack of equipment and qualified staff to do them.

Angela Culhane, Prostate Cancer UK's chief executive, said: “This is the biggest leap forward in prostate cancer diagnosis in decades with the potential to save many lives, so it’s critical that urgent action is taken to make it available to men.

“However, this complex technique can only become a routine part of the diagnostic pathway once it can be guaranteed it can be rolled out safely and in a way that produces the best outcomes for men. We are committed to doing everything we can to make this happen.”