Revolutionary ‘one-stop’ prostate cancer service set to slash diagnosis waiting times to just DAYS
PROSTATE cancer treatment is set to be revolutionised with the launch of a 'one-stop' service by the NHS.
Dubbed the greatest leap forwards for cancer treatment in decades the programme is set to cut diagnosis time from six weeks to a matter of days.
Patients will have all their tests in one day rather spread over several with doctors using state of the art MRI scanners and techniques to search for the disease.
It is thought 5,000 men will be tested in the £1.6million trial in the next couple of years.
Professor Hashim Ahmed in charge of the programme told the : "Our target waiting times have considerably reduced.
"We are diagnosing men quickly and they are then being treated quickly.
"They don't have to come back on multiple visits. We are biopsying fewer patients - and yet we are catching more aggressive cancers.
Patients in need of a biopsy will see more accurate results with doctors using an MRI scan from samples of suspicious tissue rather than choosing random locations.
As a result fewer samples will need to be taken, reducing the rate of infection from six per cent to 0.5 per cent.
A team led by University College London found MRI scanners correctly diagnosed 97 per cent of aggressive tumours, nearly double the 48 per cent identified with biopsy alone.
How the prostate cancer trial will work
- GPs will refer patients after an adverse blood test or suspicious-feeling prostate
- The patient will have a morning MRI scan at hospital roughly a week later
- Almost half of patients will be given the all-clear by 2pm that day
- The others will have a precision biopsy using the latest technology which will overlay the MRI scan against live ultrasouns images. After these samples are taken the patient is sent home by 6pm
- Results are then delivered within a week. Those who need treatment will receive it within two-three weeks
Quick diagnosis can be the difference between life and death with 98 per cent of those diagnosed early survive for more than five years. The figure drops to 36 per cent for those who are diagnosed late.
Heather Blake of Prostate Cancer UK said: "Improvements to diagnosis are crucial if we are to save more lives from prostate cancer. The benefits of having a multi-parametric MRI scan before a biopsy represent the biggest leap forward in prostate cancer diagnosis for decades."
Owen Sharp of the Movember Foundation for prostate cancer said: "It is great news that this pilot offers the opportunity for men to get faster diagnosis with a reduced risk of complications.
"We look forward to this new diagnostic pathway being made available to all men."
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Figures now show prostate cancer has now become a bigger killer than breast cancer.
Prostate cancer claims 11,800 lives a year and breast cancer claims 11,400 victims.
Last week comedian Stephen Fry, 60, revealed he underwent a life-saving operation in January to rid himself of prostate cancer.
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