Databank. Prostate cancer programme

Citation

Wells, D. (2001), "Databank. Prostate cancer programme", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 31 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2001.01731aaf.010

Databank. Prostate cancer programme

Databank

Prostate cancer programme

Prostate cancer is the cancer we know least about, yet it is one of the most common. For too long not enough has been done to detect prostate cancer or to improve the treatment of men diagnosed with it. Now there are Government plans to introduce prostate based screening if and when new research leads to screening and treatment techniques being sufficiently developed. Every year 19,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and although it is generally a disease more prevalent in older men more young middle-aged men are being diagnosed. It is extremely common and by the time they are 80 around half of all men will have some cancer in their prostate. However, only one in 25 of the men will actually die from the disease. At the moment it is impossible to distinguish between the harmless slow growing cancers and the fast growing tumours which kill. The PSA (serum prostate specific antigen) test is a blood test which looks for raised levels of PSA. A raised level may indicate the possibility of a tumour, however, other conditions may lead to raised PSA levels and some men with prostate cancer do not have raised levels. The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme will ensure that men have an informed choice around testing by developing an education programme including videos for the public, patients and professionals. Copies of the programme are available on the Department of Health Web site: http://www.doh.gov.uk/cancer</>.