Improving the Diagnosis and Treatment of Localised Prostate Cancer

我们目前诊断前列腺癌的方法是有缺陷的。目前，一种称为前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）的血液测试被用来决定谁需要前列腺活检。前列腺活检是痛苦的，导致出血，有时严重的感染。它经常检测出不需要治疗的无害癌症，而错过了需要治疗的重要癌症。这是因为前列腺活检是随机的-我们看不到癌症，所以针被发射到前列腺，希望我们会击中癌症。一旦确诊，我们治疗早期前列腺癌的方式可能会造成很大的伤害。目前对早期前列腺癌的治疗靶向整个前列腺，对周围结构造成损害。这可能导致尿液泄漏，勃起不良和背部通道问题。研究I将测试血液和尿液中的几种标志物以及成像准确预测重要前列腺癌存在或不存在的能力。我还将测试为了避免损害周围结构而仅治疗癌症是否有效控制癌症，以及是否可以减少全腺体治疗的危害。可能的好处减少接受不必要的前列腺活检的男性数量减少被诊断为无害前列腺癌的风险提高前列腺癌的诊断率这一点很重要减少治疗的危害

The way we diagnose prostate cancer at the moment is flawed. At present, a blood test called the prostate specific antigen, or PSA, is used to decide who gets a prostate biopsy. Prostate biopsy is painful, causes bleeding and sometimes serious infections. It often detects harmless cancers that need no treatment and misses important cancers that do. This is because prostate biopsies are random - we cannot see the cancer so needles are fired into the prostate in the hope that we will hit the cancer. Once diagnosed, the way we treat early prostate cancer can cause a lot of harm. Current treatments for early prostate cancer target the whole prostate, causing damage to surrounding structures. This can lead to urine leak, poor erections and back passage problems.The researchI will test the ability of several markers in blood and urine as well as imaging to accurately predict the presence or absence of important prostate cancer. I will also test whether treating the cancer only, in order to avoid damaging surrounding structures, is effective in cancer control and whether the harms of whole-gland treatments can be reduced.The possible benefitsReduce the number of men who undergo unnecessary prostate biopsyReduce the risk of being diagnosed with a harmless prostate cancerImprove the diagnosis of prostate cancer that is importantReduce the harms of treatment