Prostate cancer screening could save thousands of lives a year and should be made an option for the vast majority of men, a landmark review has found.
The study, carried out by a group of esteemed scientists who analysed data from nearly 800,000 participants, concluded that testing men as young as 45 for signs of prostate cancer led to fewer deaths related to the disease.
Overall, the scientists from the Cochrane Review, a highly-regarded international group of healthcare researchers, found that prostate cancer screening is comparable to existing breast and bowel cancer screening programmes.
The Daily Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate cancer deaths and for a national prostate cancer screening programme.
Our campaign is also backed by Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Stephen Fry, who have been treated for prostate cancer.
Last night, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the research has a major step towards a prostate cancer screening programme.
‘As this important research shows, a targeted national screening programme for prostate cancer would save lives,’ Mr Sunak said.
‘The Daily Mail is right that we must prevent more families from losing a father, a brother or a son to this cruel disease.
‘So, let’s take this vital step for men’s health and back prostate cancer screening.’
Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK, according to Prostate Cancer UK
The news comes six months after the UK National Screening Committee (UKNSC) ruled that widespread prostate cancer screening should not be rolled out on the NHS.
The committee said that the PSA test for prostate cancer is not accurate enough for population-wide use and that it is ‘unclear how PSA screening impacts deaths due to prostate cancer.’
Instead, the UKNSC ruled that only a small group of men with a rare genetic mutation would be screened for the disease.
But the new Cochrane review found that offering a PSA test to men aged 45 to 85 not only led to more prostate cancer diagnoses but also reduced deaths by a ‘modest but meaningful’ amount.
Dr Phillip Dahm, a urologist from the University of Minnesota and the review’s senior author said: ‘The main finding of our review is that we can now say for the first time say with authority that prostate cancer screening does reduce prostate cancer mortality’.
He added that there is now ‘a reasonable evidence base to support a conversation about PSA screening.’
Charities say the findings are likely to force the UKNSC to reconsider its ruling. Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer, affecting one in eight men, with around 55,000 new cases and 12,000 deaths every year.
Should prostate cancer screening become a routine part of men’s healthcare despite risks of over-treatment?
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: ‘As this important research shows, a targeted national screening programme for prostate cancer would save lives.’
Wes Streeting, the former Health Secretary who resigned yesterday over Keir Starmer’s leadership, previously stated he wanted to introduce prostate cancer screening on the NHS as long as the decision was ‘guided by the evidence’.
Oliver Kemp, CEO of Prostate Cancer Research in the UK, said: ‘Today’s Cochrane review marks an important moment in the prostate cancer screening debate.
‘Crucially, much of the evidence underpinning these findings comes from older diagnostic pathways, where a raised PSA often led directly to biopsy and treatment.
‘The reality today is very different. MRI, safer, more targeted biopsies, active surveillance and emerging biomarker tests now give us far better tools to reduce unnecessary biopsies, over diagnosis and overtreatment.
‘At a time when more than 12,000 men die from the disease each year, and major decisions on prostate cancer screening are expected soon, these findings matter.’
The review analysed data from six trials from 1993 onwards and found that PSA blood tests reduced prostate cancer deaths by approximately two men per every 1,000 screened.
Currently, without screening, 16 men in 1,000 will die from their disease. Introducing routine screening could reduce this to 14.
This means that for every 500 men screened, one life will be saved – a figure comparable to existing breast and bowel cancer screening programmes.
The Daily Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate deaths and backing prostate cancer screening for men at high risk of the disease
However, the researchers stressed that the studies they assessed did not assess the risk of complications that arise due to prostate cancer screening.
In November, the UK NSC said the PSA test for prostate cancer could ‘cause more harm than good’ as these tests can pick up low-grade tumours that may never cause symptoms or harm but result in invasive testing and over-treatment.
As such, study lead author Dr Juan Franco said: ‘We want to be clear that this is not a blanket endorsement of universal screening.
‘The decision should always be made between a patient and their doctor, with a full understanding of both the potential benefits and the very real risk of over diagnosis.’
However, the Cochrane Review scientists concluded that the PSA test is ‘the best test we have’ to diagnose prostate cancer.
Researchers are currently assessing whether combining the PSA test with an MRI scan could lead to a more accurate screening programme. But early research suggests this technique could causes fewer harms than PSA testing alone.
In response a spokesperson from The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said: ‘We are making progress cutting cancer waiting times and investing in research into prostate cancer detection with 227,000 more patients receiving a diagnosis for suspected cancer on time in the last 12 months alone.
‘The UK NSC is led by science, and the committee continue to review evidence that might change screening recommendations when it becomes available.’
