Professor Dedham’s NHS Prostate Screening Campaign Can Save Life

For Professor Chris Booth, a consultant urologist who has retired from Dedham, this silent killer is not taken seriously enough.

Professor Booth and other medical professionals and advocates are currently working on what he describes as an “unacceptable position” for a British man with prostate cancer.

Regular NHS screening for prostate cancer is not currently available, but screening has been offered to women for years to help detect cervical and breast cancer.

However, Professor Booth’s men’s health charity, CHAPS, has long played a major role in giving men the opportunity to be screened for prostate cancer.

And the impact of this, advances in medical technology and research, and the amazing mortality rate in the UK have called on the NHS to change its current policies.

The England and Wales voluntary national demonstration project he has been working on is how the “innovative” NHS screening program works and uses the successful methods of previous NHS cancer programs to reduce costs. However, we have published a case showing whether death can be halved.

Professor Booth said:

“The current position of men in the UK and prostate cancer is unacceptable and nothing effective is currently being done about this at the national level.”

The screening case is endorsed by Sir Bernard Ribeiro, a surgeon who was president of the Royal University of Surgeons in the United Kingdom.

Checks-Paul Tarrant, Grand Master of Essex and Gary Hostler, Armoner of the State, at this year’s Men’s Health Day at the Essex County Cricket Ground.

Organizations such as London’s Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Tackle Prostate Cancer have put together evidence to file a proceeding.

Professor Booth said in a position paper: “Long-term screening programs in Europe and North America have halved prostate cancer mortality, but the UK’s National Screening Commission is still a national screening program because it is outdated and has no contact with the UK today. I am against clinical practice. ”

Currently in the UK, attend screening events such as those hosted by CHAP and other organizations, or actively seek PSA testing (prostate-specific antigen) (blood tests) by a method called the NHS’s “informed selection.” Is the responsibility of the man. Prostate cancer risk management program. It is intended for men over the age of 50 who need to actively ask the GP about screening.

If an abnormality is detected, the man goes to an MRI scan.

Scans have been introduced over the last five years and are a much more reliable method of detecting cancer than before, but Professor Booth says there are worrisome barriers for men requesting a PSA test.

He states: “Men are reluctant to be tested anyway, but GPs are often reluctant to do a PSA test. It’s not inaccurate and detects prostate abnormalities, but it’s not cancer-specific. Therefore, men need to have an MRI.

“In the last five years, MRI has been introduced and is a very accurate determinant between invasive, non-invasive, and benign cancers. [non-cancerous benign prostate enlargement caused by many men’s prostate glands getting larger as they get older]..

“We can distinguish between the two, so we can tell Chaps suffering from non-invasive cancer. We need to keep an eye on you.”

Approximately 3 out of 4 men with elevated PSA levels do not have cancer, and tests can initially miss about 15% of cancer, which gives them a “false sense of security.” Programmed routine inspections overcome this.

Previously, the process of checking for prostate abnormalities was an invasive and unpleasant biopsy that used ultrasound to guide the results, and Professor Booth said it was unreliable.

This procedure also carries the risk of infection and, in rare cases, can cause sepsis and can be fatal.

However, the PSA screening program, primarily devised by Professor Booth, addresses this with backups via MRI scans.

PSA blood tests backed up by MRI scans claim to be the best option for men aged 40-80 years.

The frequency of screening is determined by individual risk and by initial PSA, family history, and ethnicity.

Those who are considered high-risk require PSA screening annually, medium-risk every two years, and low-risk men every three years.

Abnormal detection of PSA leads to a fast-track NHS assessment and MRI scan of the prostate locally or at Imperial College London.

Organizations helping build the evidence base for this screening program include Masonic lodges in other charities and states in England and Wales.

As of November 2020, the Freemasonry database shows that so far 17,989 men have been screened and 229 cancers have been found.

Using results from other screening charities, the combined database shows that as of October of this year, 166,000 PSA tests were performed and 2,276 cancers were detected.

CHAPs have hosted regular community-based screening events for several years, including Colchester United’s home stadium.

Despite previous Covid restrictions, this year we screened nearly 1,000 men in Essex and Suffolk.

Professor Booth said: process. ”

Other charities, prostate cancer support groups, and companies are presenting to government and national screening committees based on this screening evidence base.

Congressmen Essex, including Will Quince, James Cleverly, Giles Watling, and Sir Bernard Jenkin, also support the campaign.

However, the request for a regular NHS screening program for men was opposed by the National Screening Commission of the United Kingdom. After reviewing the evidence, the UK National Screening Commission concluded in October last year that whole population screening for prostate cancer should not be introduced in the UK.

Reasons include the impact of PSA screening on cancer-specific mortality, which remains “unknown” compared to no screening, and it is not clear whether the benefits of the screening program “outweigh the harm”. ..

Professor Booth said: “Our National Screening Commission is over-focusing on outdated evidence and paying little attention to new testing work. As a result, GPs now benefit from regular risk-based screening. Not educated about the fact that it goes far beyond harm. ”

For more information on CHAP and prostate screening, please visit chaps.uk.com.