(UK)New guidance for tests to help detect prostate cancer

I missed this from last month and also note that I haven't included 'Prostate UK' in the Charity section found under the month of April.




New guidance for tests to help detect prostate cancer



On 20 April the Prostate Cancer Support Federation and Prostate UK release new guidance for GPs to give to men to help them make informed choices when asking for a test that can help to detect prostate cancer. Although the existing guidance, published in 2002, is now considered to be out of date, GPs are still being referred back to it, with its acknowledged flaws.

Any man over the age of 50, or 45 where there is a family history of prostate cancer, is entitled to an annual blood test, PSA, that can help detect prostate cancer at an early stage before other symptoms become known. The PSA test can also indicate other prostate disease. New evidence published (in the New England Journal of Medicine) on 18 March has opened up the debate on prostate screening and delayed the publication of new guidance from the Department of Health. This has many implications for men deciding to have the test and the choices they may need to make afterwards.

John Dwyer, a prostate cancer patient and Chairman of the Prostate Cancer Support Federation, says ‘For two years, patients have been calling for revision of the Government's guidance to GPs on what to say to a man who asks for a PSA test. The added delay in the publication of up-to-date guidance is unacceptable. Although there is much uncertainty about the potential advantages of early testing for prostate cancer, the information men need in order to decide on having a PSA test is simply put, and we believe that all GPs should become aware of it.’

The new seven point guidance has been prepared by the patient group the Prostate Cancer Support Federation and is supported by the country’s leading charity on all prostate diseases, Prostate UK.

‘Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer to affect men in the UK, claiming the lives of 10,000 a year, so it is important to be informed of the choices available to you in what can be a very confusing area of healthcare,’ says Professor Roger Kirby, founder of the Prostate Centre and chairman of Prostate UK. ‘That’s why this guidance has been created; to help men make an informed choice.’

The seven points in the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme can be viewed at www.pcrmp.org.uk

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New guidance for tests to help detect prostate cancer UK-20th April


Here is a link to the Prostate UK quarterly Newsletter where past editions can be viewed simply by changing the "update36.pdf" part of the address to 35 and so on.

Prostate UK-Newsletter (Spring 2009)