Local prostate cancer experts feature in leading urology journal
Professor Prabhakar Rajan, Chair of Urology and Robotic Surgery at Queen Mary University of London, and Ben Lamb, Consultant Urological and Robotic Surgeon, Barts Health, have written an article about ways to support men with early state prostate cancer who can be monitored and do not need surgery or radiotherapy.
This has been published in the British Journal of Urology International (BJUI) and copy of the article is available to download. The BJU International publishes the latest treatments, technology and techniques for clinicians and scientists working in all sub-specialties of urology across the globe.
Prostate cancer screening and early diagnosis are topics receiving a lot of political and media attention at present. There are repeated calls to make prostate cancer screening a national programme to help improve early diagnosis. However, this has to be balanced with the risk that over-diagnosis of early non-aggressive prostate cancer may lead to men having unnecessary and potentially harmful treatment.
Ben Lamb explains: “More men are predicted to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the coming years, and many of these will have early-stage disease that can be safely monitored with active surveillance, rather than the need for invasive surgery.
Minimising risk and avoiding over treatment of men on active surveillance must therefore be a priority for health services going forward. This is pertinent to the population in north east London, which is ethnically diverse with higher-than-average rates of prostate cancer diagnoses.”

The review summarises the current evidence on non-surgical interventions for patients with localised prostate cancer on active surveillance, including holistic options that many men might be interested to explore, and outlines priorities for future research.
These interventions include:
Hormonal Therapies - including 5α-reductase inhibitors and next-generation androgen receptor inhibitors that block the production or action of testosterone
Lifestyle, nutraceutical (i.e. functional foods, supplements and fortifications), and metabolic interventions (i.e. drugs that affect food metabolism)
Molecular (e.g. genetic) tests and scans, which are emerging tools that could better identify patients at higher risk of progression and guide personalised strategies
Professor Rajan said: “Current evidence is promising, which is good news, but at the moment, it is still relatively limited. We need large, well-designed randomised controlled trials to define how best to optimise active surveillance management for men with early stage, localised prostate cancer.”
Supporting early diagnosis
North East London Cancer Alliance has been doing a lot of work to improve early diagnosis of prostate cancer. This includes running an awareness campaign – called It’s Not A Game – which uses sport as a way of connecting with local men and encouraging more conversations about their health.
They have also worked with British Athlete Joe Appiah to highlight the increased risk of black men getting prostate cancer. 1 in 4 black men are likely to get prostate cancer, compared to 1 in 8 white men. Joe has appeared in a video, as well as on a podcast episode.