Widespread prostate cancer screening could soon become a reality
Key update on prostate cancer care to be delivered today
- The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is due to issue recommendations on Friday regarding expanded prostate cancer screening, as the UK currently lacks a national programme.
- The UK NSC maintains that the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test is insufficiently accurate for use as a primary screening tool.
- Concerns include the PSA test missing treatable cancers and identifying indolent ones, potentially leading to unnecessary overtreatment and severe side-effects.
- The committee has considered targeted screening for men with a family history, specific ethnicities, BRCA2 gene carriers, and wider screening for those aged 45 to 70.
- A new £42 million Transform trial is exploring whether combining MRI or other scans with PSA testing could make a nationwide screening programme viable, aiming to reduce deaths while minimising overtreatment.