RE: Let's see what tomorrow brings26 Mar 2026 15:30
March 23, 2026 at 7:30pm GMT
The first men have been tested as part of a landmark UK trial into the future of prostate cancer screening.
The Transform trial, funded by Prostate Cancer UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), could give results and lead to changes in as little as two years.
Experts hope it will inform the future of population-wide prostate cancer screening for men by seeing which tests – such as genetic tests or 10-minute MRI scans – can be combined.
It comes as the UK national screening committee (UKNSC), which advises the Government, publishes its final guidance this week on screening men for prostate cancer.
In a draft recommendation last year, it said no to population-wide screening using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, saying it “is likely to cause more harm than good”.
The committee put forward only a recommendation to screen men with BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations – which puts them at far higher risk of prostate cancer – every two years, between the ages of 45 and 61.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was surprised by the move but any final decision needs to be “based on science and evidence, not on politics”.
Many experts argue the PSA test is not very reliable because men with a high PSA level may not have cancer and some men with cancer have a normal PSA result.
A positive test result may lead to unnecessary treatment for slow-growing or harmless tumours, leaving men at risk of side-effects such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
However, others argue current evidence supports wider testing and urged experts to reconsider.
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