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Scientists say they have developed accurate prostate cancer screening to replace current screening techniques and save thousands of men every year, according to the British Guardian newspaper.
The Prostagram, developed by experts at Imperial College London, uses an MRI, which is modeled on a female breast cancer mammogram, which is performed routinely every three years as part of a national disease control program.
And a trial involving 408 men and published Thursday in “Gamma Oncology” found that Prostagram detected nearly twice the number of cancers detected by conventional blood tests.
Previous MRIs had encountered reliability issues, but the Prostagram machine, which identified around 75% of prostate cancer cases in volunteers, was the first to be considered accurate enough to be certified.
Researchers say the trial results indicate the 15-minute screening could detect 40,000 more cases of prostate cancer per year in the UK alone.
“Prostagram is able to form the basis of a nationwide rapid and mobile prostate cancer screening program, and it could be an agent of change,” said Prof Hashem Ahmed, senior author and director of urology at Imperial College London.
“Prostagram also has the ability to detect the most deadly cancers early, and by discovering these early cancers, men have the opportunity to receive treatment faster with fewer side effects,” he added.
The death toll from prostate cancer in the UK has exceeded the death toll from breast cancer (around 12,000 versus 11,000), and the national breast cancer screening program would save around 1,300 women per year.
Last year, research on prostate cancer was published in the UK, showing it to be the most common type of cancer, and more than 57,000 cases of prostate cancer have been recorded in 2018.
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