New reports were released yesterday of a test which could use semen samples to test for prostate cancer.
The new test has been developed by scientists, takes three minutes and involves shining a light through fluid produced from the prostate gland.
Currently the test used for prostate cancer uses a needle to extract a biopsy sample.
However the pioneering in the testing process could mean a simple semen test - half of which is made up of prostate fluid.
The statistics in UK show 35,000 men suffer from prostate cancer each year, 10,000 of which die from the disease.
At the moment there is not a national screening programme for prostate cancer, which is mainly due to difficulties in testing for the disease.
The problem with the standard PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood marker test is that it commonly gives ambiguous or false results. The implications of this mean that some cancers go undetected, while other men wrongly think they have it.
British and American scientisits including a team from the University of Durham have developed this new test which records the wavelength of light as it is beamed through diluted samples of prostate fluid.
Scientists can determine whether prostate cancer is present by the level of a subtance called citrate in the sample. Men who have prostate cancer have a massively reduced level of citrate in their prostate fluid.
Professor David Parker, from the Chemistry Department at Durham University, said, “Citrate provides a significant biomarker for disease that may provide a reliable method for screening and detecting prostate cancer, and for the monitoring of people with the disease. This technique could form the basis of a simple screening procedure for prostate cancer that could be used in outpatient departments at local hospitals.”
The mobile testing method gives accurate results in just three minutes.
John Neate, chief executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity, said, “This is early stage research, with the citrate levels of only 20 samples being tested. The results of a biopsy take around two weeks to come back to a patient and the main benefit of this new potential test would be one of speed. If the findings of further research in a large group of men remain consistent with these early results, the test could add something beneficial to the diagnostic tools currently available. Men could have a clearer idea of whether they have the disease, before the biopsy results confirm this. The full biopsy results would still be necessary, however, to confirm whether a man has an aggressive or non-aggressive form of the disease.’
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New reports were released yesterday of a test which could use semen samples to test for prostate cancer.
The new test has been developed by scientists, takes three minutes and involves shining a light through fluid produced from the prostate gland.
Currently the test used for prostate cancer uses a needle to extract a biopsy sample.
However the pioneering in the testing process could mean a simple semen test - half of which is made up of prostate fluid.
The statistics in UK show 35,000 men suffer from prostate cancer each year, 10,000 of which die from the disease.
At the moment there is not a national screening programme for prostate cancer, which is mainly due to difficulties in testing for the disease.
The problem with the standard PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood marker test is that it commonly gives ambiguous or false results. The implications of this mean that some cancers go undetected, while other men wrongly think they have it.
British and American scientisits including a team from the University of Durham have developed this new test which records the wavelength of light as it is beamed through diluted samples of prostate fluid.
Scientists can determine whether prostate cancer is present by the level of a subtance called citrate in the sample. Men who have prostate cancer have a massively reduced level of citrate in their prostate fluid.
Professor David Parker, from the Chemistry Department at Durham University, said, “Citrate provides a significant biomarker for disease that may provide a reliable method for screening and detecting prostate cancer, and for the monitoring of people with the disease. This technique could form the basis of a simple screening procedure for prostate cancer that could be used in outpatient departments at local hospitals.”
The mobile testing method gives accurate results in just three minutes.
John Neate, chief executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity, said, “This is early stage research, with the citrate levels of only 20 samples being tested. The results of a biopsy take around two weeks to come back to a patient and the main benefit of this new potential test would be one of speed. If the findings of further research in a large group of men remain consistent with these early results, the test could add something beneficial to the diagnostic tools currently available. Men could have a clearer idea of whether they have the disease, before the biopsy results confirm this. The full biopsy results would still be necessary, however, to confirm whether a man has an aggressive or non-aggressive form of the disease.’
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