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09
Aug 2016
New screening test to give first accurate prognosis for prostate cancer patients
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in the UK amongst men, with over 40,000 new cases being diagnosed each year, and claiming over 11,000 lives a year.
The new screening test, which has been developed by scientists at Cambridge University, identifies the severity of the disease, and puts the patients in one of five groups on a spectrum of severity.
The system enables patients to be treated more aggressively if they are at one end of the spectrum, or to avoid unnecessary treatment if at the other end.
Patients are currently categorised into three broad groups, low, intermediate and high risk, which means that patients in the intermediate group run the risk of undergoing more unpleasant and drastic treatment than they might need.
The university’s lead researcher Vincent Gnanapragasam, said that the system that was currently used was only 60 per cent accurate in predicting the severity of each patient’s disease, and the new test had between 70 and 80 per cent accuracy.
He went on to say “There is a lot of variety within the cancer itself. Trying to categorise men into just three groups is very difficult.
“You might be in a particular group, but your outcomes and the decisions needed on whether to be treated or not treated could be very different (from others in that group).
“The new model identifies who will do better from treatment and who will not. We want to avoid both under-treatment and over-treatment.”
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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
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