New technique to diagnose prostate cancer
Prostate cancer experts have revealed they can improve diagnosis through sophisticated imaging techniques instead of invasive biopsies.
Fifty Australian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each day and by using new scans health workers are hoping to diagnose the cancer more quickly or rule out the disease.
The PSMA-PET is a scan where a patient is injected with a small dose of radiation that binds to prostate cancer cells, which then light up on a screen.
READ MORE: How China has turned death row into a billion-dollar transplant trade
The scan can help improve the rate of diagnoses. 9News
"It's actually targeted radiation, it finds the cancer cell by a small protein that then binds to a receptor on the cancer cell surface itself, it's very clever," Professor Louise Emmett at St Vincent's Hospital said.
This new diagnostic approach was deployed in an Australian trial led by St Vincent's Hospital.
"It was an excellent collaboration between nuclear medicine physicians and urologists across Australia," Professor Phillip Stricker at St Vincent's Hospital prostate cancer research centre said.
READ MORE: Man's chilling confession moments after horror act
A stufy of nearly 300 men showed the effectiveness of the approach. 9News
The study of nearly 300 men showed using this technique on top of advanced MRI improved diagnostics of prostate cancer.
"We were missing 17 per cent of significant malignancies with the MRI in the study, but it went down to just three per cent when we combined PSMA and MRI," Professor Emmett said.
Experts were also able to reduce the need for invasive biopsies.
"In the primary trial itself we found we cold reduce, safely reduce the number of biopsies undertaken by 20 per cent," Professor Emmett said.
READ MORE: Russian invasion of Ukraine 'greatest threat' to world in decades, top US general says
It means less invasive biopsies will be required for diagnosis. 9News
"Biopsies are invasive, they require anaesthetic, there's a lot of needles in a very sensitive area of your body."
For patients like 55-year-old Diego Villar who had a suspicious blood test, the new approach has proved a more efficient and effective way to find out his results.
Thankfully, his results came back all clear.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
