From 6pm until 9pm we will be hosting our 11th PSA Testing Roadshow at Christ Church in Chorleywood (WD3 5SG).

Our Consultants will meet you all in the Church to explain how to best care for your precious Prostate & then offer you a Blood Test. Our Consultants will be happy to try and answer any questions you may have. It is important to monitor the Health of your Prostate, especially as you age.

We hope to see you there.

The FOPS was very saddened to hear of the recent death of Bill Turnbull from prostate cancer. Bill has been a strong advocate for PSA testing.
With the resulting enhanced coverage of prostate cancer, we think this may cause our Roadshow PSA testing event to be over-subscribed. Please bear with us if this happens on the night, and we will take your details so we can contact you again in the future.

From 6pm until 9pm we will be hosting our 11th PSA Testing Roadshow at Christ Church in Chorleywood (WD3 5SG). This is aimed at men aged over 40, and not already diagnosed with prostate cancer. Partners are welcome too. We hope to see you there.

Our Consultants will meet you all in the Church to explain how to best care for your prostate and then offer you a PSA Blood Test. The PSA Test is free, although any donation to support our work is much appreciated. Our Consultants will be happy to try and answer any questions you may have. It is important to monitor the Health of your Prostate, especially as you age.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK, but there's no NHS screening program. All men from age 50 are entitled to ask their GP for a PSA blood test, but we know these are sometimes difficult to obtain.

The PSA test is not usually a direct way of diagnosing prostate cancer, but it can be a useful indication if any further investigation is required. Our PSA testing is not appropriate for men who have already been diagnosed with prostate cancer - your clinicians should be monitoring your PSA.

Below, we explain the risk factors and symptoms of prostate cancer, and the limitations of PSA testing.

Understanding your risk factors

We don't know what causes most prostate cancer, but as far as we know, it's not linked to lifestyle factors like many other cancers are. This means it's just as common in those who are fit and lead healthy lifestyles. Being overweight doesn't increase your chance of prostate cancer, but it does mean that if you do get it, you are more likely to get a more aggressive form which does lead to more deaths.

1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer.
That’s over 50,000 men per year.
Some researchers think this is increasing and maybe 1 in 6 men born since 1960.

Over half of the men diagnosed are diagnosed late (Stage 3 or Stage 4), and almost 12,000 men die of prostate cancer each year. That's 1 death every 45 minutes. Being diagnosed at an earlier Stage gives you more treatment options, better outcomes, and fewer side effects.

The incidence in Black African and Black Caribbean men is double. 1 in 4 Black African and Black Caribbean men get prostate cancer, and from a younger age, and it tends to be more aggressive.

If your brother or father had prostate cancer, your risk is doubled.
If your mother or sister had breast cancer below age 60, your risk is increased by around 1/5th.

Age is a significant risk factor - as you get older, your risk of prostate cancer increases. Generally, this starts to become significant at around age 50 (age 45 for Black African and Black Caribbean men). Unfortunately, a small number of men get prostate cancer at lower ages. If you have additional risk factors, then you should start getting checked even earlier.

Prostate cancer is also a risk for trans women (even with gender reassignment), and some intersex people have prostates too.

Understanding Symptoms

The most common symptom of prostate cancer is - NOTHING!

That's right, around 80% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer have no symptoms of cancer.

Early-stage prostate cancer usually has no symptoms, and even some advanced Stage 4 prostate cancers have no symptoms. This is why it's important to understand your risks - prostate cancer really needs to be picked up before it's causing any symptoms.

However, there are some symptoms which you should have investigated.

Problems with peeing are usually caused by an enlarged prostate which is not usually related to prostate cancer. This is often the symptom which causes a man to see his GP, and sometimes prostate cancer is diagnosed as a result of that visit, even though prostate cancer it wasn't the cause of the symptom. However, occasionally, peeing problems are caused by prostate cancer, so it should always be checked out.

Blood in urine or semen is not usually caused by prostate cancer, but must always be checked out, even if it only happens once, as there are other potentially serious causes too.

Loss of Erectile Function should always be checked out because it's a potential early warning of many issues (cardiovascular, diabetes, nerve issues, etc), and in rare cases can be caused by prostate cancer. Loss of semen should be investigated too.

Backache and bone pain (away from the prostate) can be caused by prostate cancer and should be investigated, but the cause is more likely to be something else.

So just to emphasise, although prostate cancer can cause symptoms, all these symptoms are more commonly caused by something else, so there is no symptom which can be used to identify prostate cancer. However, any of these symptoms should be checked out. This is why it's also important to understand your risks.

PSA Testing

PSA is a chemical the prostate manufactures. PSA testing measures how much of this chemical is in the blood. This is not directly a measure of prostate cancer, because other things can raise the PSA level, such as an infection, but also some exercise (such as cycling) and ejaculating. However, PSA can be a useful first indication that more investigation is required. Although better tests for prostate cancer are being developed, the PSA test is the best first step we have at the moment.

About 15% of prostate cancers don't cause an increase in PSA levels, and therefore won't be picked up by a PSA test. If you are at a high risk of prostate cancer but you have a normal PSA level, it might still be worth asking your GP to feel your prostate for cancerous growths, which is another way to identify that further investigation is required. We won't be offering to do this at the Roadshow.