A NEW test could detect prostate cancer in 15 minutes or less, experts have claimed.
The “breakthrough” blood test was able to diagnose men with prostate cancer to 90 per cent accuracy in a new study.
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Scientists from Aston University have developed a new method that analyses crystal-like structures in dehydrated blood.
Professor Igor Meglinski said the non-invasive technique can detect prostate cancer before symptoms appear with up to 90 per cent accuracy.
“This breakthrough opens new avenues for cancer diagnosis and monitoring, representing a substantial leap forward in personalised medicine and oncology,” he explained.
There is currently no national screening programme for prostate cancer and the standard blood test, which measures levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA), is not accurate enough.
Read more on prostate cancer
Further tests such as rectal exams and tissue biopsies are often needed to diagnose the disease, and can be uncomfortable and invasive.
For the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the team analysed 108 dry blood smear samples from healthy volunteers as well as those who had prostate cancer.
The researchers examined the protein structures in the blood samples using a technique known as new polarisation-based image reconstruction.
They focused on how proteins change their 3D shape and join together during early stages of the disease, conducting a detailed layer-by-layer analysis of dry blood smears.
This step is crucial for identifying significant differences between healthy and cancerous samples, the researchers said.
Prof Igor said the entire process, including drying time, takes up to 15 minutes.
He said the findings had a 90 per cent accuracy rate of early prostate cancer diagnosis, much higher than existing screening methods, and it holds “immense potential for revolutionising cancer diagnosis”.
Prof Meglinski added: “Prostate cancer accounts for nearly 10 per cent of cancer deaths in men and is one of the leading causes of death in older men.
“However, the life expectancy of 90 per cent of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer at stage 1 or 2 is 15 years or more.
“By enabling earlier and more accurate detection, our blood test has the potential to significantly improve outcomes and survival rates for many patients.”
The technique relies on blood samples instead of more invasive biopsies, so it is less traumatic and risky for patients, Prof Igor said.
How to lower your risk of prostate cancer
While many people may wonder how to prevent prostate cancer, there’s no one way to avoid the disease.
Staying healthy as you age, or working to reverse existing health problems, can lower your risk.
However, like all cancers, prostate cancer has certain risk factors that cannot be avoided.
Here are some lifestyle changes that may help reduce the risk of prostate cancer:
- Diet: Improve your diet and maintain a healthy weight
- Exercise: Get regular exercise
- Smoking and drinking: Stop smoking and drink less.
- Vitamin D: Increase your vitamin D
- Sexual activity: Stay sexually active
- Ejaculation frequency: Men who ejaculated 21 or more times a month had a 31 per cent lower risk of prostate cancer compared to men who ejaculated 4–7 times a month
Source: John Hopkins Medicine
But he added that the results are preliminary so larger clinical trials are needed to confirm the technique’s potential.
Dr Matthew Hobbs, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, who was not involved in the study, said: “Over 10,000 men each year are diagnosed when their cancer has already spread and become incurable, which is why it’s so important that we find new and better tests for prostate cancer.
“The big issue is proving that these tests are better than what we have already.
“So far, this has been tested on a relatively small number of samples, so we’ll need to see more research before we can know how effective it will be.”
