THE STATE’S first rapid-access clinics for men suspected of having prostate cancer will be launched today by Minister for Health Mary Harney.
The clinics, at St James’s Hospital Dublin and Galway University Hospital, will allow family doctors to refer men considered at high risk of having cancer of the prostate direct to a one–stop service, bypassing sometimes considerable waiting times for general urology clinics.
It means men suspected of having the commonest male cancer will, for the first time, have access to facilities similar to those available to women considered at high risk of breast cancer. They will be assessed by a specialist who will perform a same-day needle biopsy of the prostate where appropriate.
The new system aims to offer a definitive diagnosis to patients within two weeks of their initial appointment. For those who have prostate cancer, they will be seen by a multidisciplinary team of cancer specialists who will plan appropriate treatment in each case.
While the service is being formally launched today, the Rapid Access Prostate Diagnostic Unit at Galway University Hospital opened earlier this month.
The hospital has the capacity to assess up to 24 patients per day at the clinic with up to 12 provided with biopsy and a further 12 attending for review.
Backed by the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) and the All-Ireland Cancer Foundation (AICF), the first of eight planned rapid access clinics in the State has been funded by €1.5 million from the NCCP and a capital donation from the AICF. Businessmen Denis O’Brien and Leslie Buckley also contributed start-up funding to the project.
Approximately 2,400 men develop prostate cancer in Ireland annually. About 550 men here die each year from the disease.
The diagnosis of prostate cancer is usually made by a combination of a rectal examination and the finding of an elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. The pathway for the diagnosis of prostate cancer is through referral of patients suspected of having prostate cancer to urology clinics in over 20 hospitals.
Speaking in advance of today’s launch at University Hospital Galway, director of the NCCP, Prof Tom Keane, stressed the need for such early diagnosis in the treatment of prostate cancer: “The National Rapid Prostate Cancer Diagnostic Service will allow us to identify those patients who require rapid access to diagnosis, followed by an appropriate multi disciplinary decision on management of their care.”
Eamonn Rodgers, consultant urological surgeon at GUH, said: “Irish men who develop prostate cancer have one of the highest death rates from the disease in Europe, while within the Republic, the highest death rates from prostate cancer occur in the west.”
Thomas Lynch, consultant urological surgeon at St James’s Hospital said: “All of these clinics will be run within national guidelines, so there should be no variation between the centres in wait times and outcomes for men with prostate cancer. [They] will also speed up the process of decision making for patients who are diagnosed with prostate cancer.”
He noted about 75 per cent of patients attending for prostate biopsy will be shown not to have a cancer. “This rapid access facility will shorten their period of anxiety while waiting for results,” he said.