Research finds ultrasound scans can diagnose prostate cancer

Researchers at Imperial College London

The one factor that rings a bell in everybody's mind and makes them scared is once they're requested to take an MRI, that process that is used to detect cancer.

But, new research has found that the good old ultrasound scan can also be used to detect cancer. The research found that ultrasound tests can be used to detect cases of prostate cancer. 

Researchers at Imperial College London, University College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust  have found that a new type of Ultrasound scan can diagnose most prostate cancer cases with good accuracy in a clinical trial involving 370 men. 

The ultrasound scans missed only 4.3 per cent more clinically important prostate cancer cases - cancer that should be treated rather than monitored  - compared to magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI ) scans currently used to detect prostate cancer. MRI scans are expensive and time - consuming. 

The team believes that an ultrasound scan should be used as a first test in a community healthcare setting and in low and middle income countries which do not have easy access to high quality MRI scans.

They say it would be used in combination with current MRI scans to maximise cancer detection. The study is published in Lancet Oncology. 

Professor Hashim Ahmed, lead author of the study and chair of Urology at Imperial College London said : "Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed with the disease in their lifetimes and that figure is expected to rise. " 

MRI scans are one of the tests we used to diagnose prostate cancer. Although effective these scans are expensive, take up to 40 minutes to perform and are not easily available to all. 

"We believe that this test can be used in low and middle income settings where access to expensive MRI equipment is difficult and cases of prostate cancer are growing. " 

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK with around 52,300 new cases diagnosed each year.

It develops when cells in the prostate grow in an uncontrolled way. It develops slowly and symptoms such as the blood in the Urine do not appear until the disease has developed.