Health records searched for early prostate cancer signs
Half a million men affected byprostate cancerwill be asked to share their medical records in an NHS drive to improve early detection. Letters and texts will be sent out to men with prostate cancer, and those. . .
Half a million men affected byprostate cancerwill be asked to share their medical records in an NHS drive to improve early detection. Letters and texts will be sent out to men with prostate cancer, and those who have survived it, urging them to join one of the world's biggest prostate cancer research programmes. By comparing the medical histories of hundreds of thousands of men, researchers hope to identify theearliest signs of the disease, discover which men would benefit most from screening and develop more accurate diagnostic tests. Those taking part will allow researchers to link years of NHS records with regular updates about their symptoms, treatment, side effects and quality of life. The database will combine GP records, blood tests, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) results, referrals, MRI scans, biopsies, treatments and long-term outcomes with information reported directly by patients. The Telegraph has called fortargeted prostate cancer screening, with regular testing for men at highest risk,including black men, those with a family history of the disease and those carrying inherited genetic variants linked to aggressive cancers. Actor Colin McFarlane is urging black men to participate in the research programmeThe NHS is working on plans to offer screening only to men carrying the most risky BRCA2 gene variants. Scientists hope evidence from Prostate Progress, alongside a major trial comparing screening methods, will pave the way for wider targeted screening of other high-risk groups. Oliver Kemp, the chief executive of Prostate Cancer Research, said: "Half a million men is a huge number, but every one of them has a unique story that could help save another man's life. "By bringing together years of NHS records with men's own experiences, we could understand why some cancers become aggressive, spot dangerous cancers earlier, inform future approaches to screening and match each man with the treatment most likely to help him. "We have made huge advances in scans, genetics and treatments in recent years, but we have lacked the data to connect them. This could be the missing piece that turns those advances into longer, better lives. "Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK, having overtaken breast cancer, with around 60,000 men diagnosed each year and more than 12,000 deaths annually. Prof Peter Johnson, the NHS national clinical director for cancer, said: "We'll be contacting over half a million men over the next few months who have or who have had prostate cancer, and I'd urge anyone who receives an invite to Prostate Progress to sign up. "Joining Prostate Progress today will make a tremendous difference to the lives of men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the future. "Experts said data on prostate cancer were fragmented, scattered across different NHS systems, with too little account taken of patients' own experiences. Bringing that information together will allow researchers to follow a man's journey from before diagnosis through treatment and beyond, revealing patterns that have previously been impossible to detect. Scientists will compare men whose cancers became aggressive with those whose disease remained slow growing to identify the combinations of risk factors most strongly linked to dangerous disease. They will examine whether factors such as age, ethnicity, family history, inherited genetic variants, symptoms and changes in PSA levels can predict which cancers are most likely to become life-threatening. Researchers also hope to identify missed opportunities for earlier diagnosis, including repeated GP appointments, steadily rising PSA levels or delays before MRI scans or biopsies. The findings could help inform future screening strategies and improve treatment decisions, while giving doctors a far better understanding of the long-term impact of side effects. Researchers are particularly keen to recruit black men, who face around twice the risk of developing prostate cancer. Around one-quarter of black men in Britain are expected to be diagnosed during their lifetime. The database should also provide one of the clearest pictures yet of life after prostate cancer treatment. Participants will regularly report on urinary, bowel and sexual side effects, alongside their general health and quality of life. Those responses will be linked to NHS records, allowing researchers to study how different treatments affect patients over many years. The information could help doctors identify which treatments produce the best outcomes for different groups and reduce unnecessary side effects. It should also help researchers monitor the long-term safety and effectiveness of treatments used across the NHS. Under the programme, men with prostate cancer could also gain faster access to life-saving clinical trials, and eligible participants could be matched to experimental treatments far more quickly than is possible. It is expected to become a major national resource for clinical research. Approved researchers will be able to use the data to develop new diagnostic tests, improve existing ones and design future clinical trials.