Prostate Progress

Early detection may be tricky but it’s over to men to insist on regular checks before symptoms appear.

- Nicky Pellegrino

First the bad news: prostate cancer remains the most common cancer in men, with around 3000 new cases a year in New Zealand and no sign of a national screening programme. This walnut-sized gland, between the bladder and the penis, can cause a lot of trouble as men age. We don’t know why or have any proven prevention strategy, but there is some good news: we are getting better at diagnosis and treatment.

Although there remains no single, accurate test to diagnose prostate cancer, that might soon change. A New Zealand company, Caldera Health, is developing a urine test that has the potential to be a game changer.

In the meantime, the best option is still a PSA test to measure the level of a protein in the blood that, when elevated, may – but not necessarily – indicate cancer.

PSA status is useful as a risk assessment, but like the other test, the digital rectal exam, is not an accurate diagnostic tool. So some patients were ending up having unnecessary biopsies. But MRI scans are sparing increasing numbers of men from biopsies if they are judged as having a low-grade tumour that is unlikely to be a major problem during their lifetime.