Prostate Cancer Screening

In Britain four times as many men die of cancer of the prostate as women die of cancer of the cervix.

The incidence of prostate cancer is increasing rapidly in the western world, partly because men are living longer, and partly, it is thought, through dietary factors and lack of sunlight.

By the time symptoms of pain on passing urine or difficulty passing urine are evident, a cancer could have spread to lymph nodes and bone. If this has happened, it cannot be cured, only its progress can be slowed down. In Britain at present, of all those men diagnosed in any one year, only about a third are living five years later. This alarming situation could now be much improved through the use of recently developed screening techniques.