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. 2024 Aug 15;5(10):969-975.
doi: 10.1002/bco2.416. eCollection 2024 Oct.

Targeted Prostate Health Checks, a novel system to identify men with prostate cancer-A pilot study

Stephen Langley  1 , Jeremy Goad  2 , Stephanie Bell  3 , Lee Foster  3 , Catherine Hodges  4 , Marc Laniado  5 , Michele Pietrasik  1 , Alison Rooke  1 , Matthew Knight  2 , Edward Bosonnet  2 , Simon Bott  6
Affiliations

Targeted Prostate Health Checks, a novel system to identify men with prostate cancer-A pilot study

Stephen Langley et al. BJUI Compass. .

Erratum in

  • Erratum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] BJUI Compass. 2024 Dec 30;5(12):1324-1329. doi: 10.1002/bco2.482. eCollection 2024 Dec. BJUI Compass. 2024. PMID: 39744071 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study is to report the pilot phase of the Targeted Prostate Health Check programme that aims to identify men in the Surrey and Sussex region who have prostate cancer and who failed to be detected during the Covid era.

Subjects and methods: Men aged 50 to 70, or 45 to 70 if Black or with a family history of prostate cancer, were identified from participating general practitioner (GP) records. Short message service (SMS) texts invited men to visit www.talkprostate.co.uk for information on prostate cancer and give consent to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) checks coordinated by a third-party virtual healthcare provider. Elevated age-related PSA levels, or levels below age-related thresholds but at 3 ng/mL or more, triggered referral to a rapid access urology clinic. GPs were informed of the results.

Results: From 1842 text messages inviting 1549 people, 544 men consented to a PSA check. From 500 phlebotomy appointments, 485 (30% of invited men) took the PSA test of whom 68 (14%) were referred with an elevated PSA. After clinical review with multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI), 22 patients underwent transperineal biopsies, and prostate cancer was detected in 18 men of whom 17 (95%) had clinically significant cancer.

Conclusion: Our Targeted Prostate Cancer Health Check system identifies men at risk without burdening primary care. Awareness on prostate cancer risk was raised in 1549 invited men, half of whom were further educated via the registration website. One third of invited men were checked in whom clinically significant prostate cancer was found in 3.5%.

Keywords: PSA; health check; multiparametric‐MRI; prostate cancer; prostate‐specific antigen; transperineal biopsy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Stephen Langley reports personal fees, non‐financial support and other from BXTAccelyon Limited, outside the submitted work. Jeremy Goad, Stephanie Bell, Lee Foster, Catherine Hodges, Marc Laniado, Michele Pietrasik, Alison Rooke, Matthew Knight, Edward Bosonnet and Simon Bott have nothing to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Pathway for Targeted Prostate Health Checks. CNS, clinical nurse specialist; GP, general practitioner; PSA, prostate‐specific antigen; SMS, short message service.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Flow chart of participants from receiving initial short message service (SMS) text to prostate cancer diagnosis. PSA, prostate‐specific antigen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance . Accessed 29 September 2023. https://surreyandsussexcanceralliance.nhs.uk/
    1. Medefer . Accessed 29 Sept 2023. https://medefer.com.
    1. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence . NICE guideline [NG12] Suspected Cancer: recognition and referral. Accessed 29 Sept 2023. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng12/chapter/Recommendations-organised-... - PubMed
    1. The NHS England Clinical Expert Group for prostate cancer: Guidance to support the optimal pathway for prostate cancer, January 2019. Accessed 29 Sept 2023. https://prostatecanceruk.org/media/dadbsf0c/guidance-to-support-the-opti...
    1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prostate-specific-antigen-tes.... Accessed Sept 2023.

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