Draft recommendations on prostate cancer screening issued
Today the UK National Screening Committee – the expert group which advises the government and the NHS on screening – has issued draft recommendations about prostate screening in the UK.
The Committee has advised it does not currently recommend a screening programme for all men, as there are concerns that the harms caused by screening outweigh the benefits. It has recommended that men with confirmed faults in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes aged between 45 and 61 should be screened every two years.
Large trials provide crucial evidence
The Committee’s report follows the start of the £42m Prostate Cancer UK/NIHR-funded TRANSFORM trial last week – the biggest prostate cancer screening study in a generation. The first men have now received invitations from their GPs to join the TRANSFORM trial.
Responding to the Committee’s report, Professor Hashim Ahmed, chief investigator of the TRANSFORM trial, chair of urology at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and professor of urology at Imperial College London said: “The National Screening Committee’s draft recommendations show that large scale trials such as TRANSFORM are crucial. They provide the critical evidence needed to determine whether a national screening programme for prostate cancer should be delivered in the UK in the future.
“By testing new ways to diagnose the disease and studying the tests we currently use, TRANSFORM will reveal the best way to screen men for prostate cancer, so the disease is diagnosed earlier, minimising harms and ultimately saving more lives. We strongly encourage anyone who is invited to take part to get involved and help shape the future of prostate cancer screening.”
The 12-week consultation on the draft recommendations has now opened, before the NSC issues full recommendations in 2026.
Find out more
Read more about TRANSFORM
Read more about the recommendations and the consultation
