P-05-849 All men in Wales should have access through the NHS to the best possible diagnostic tests for prostate cancer
P-05-849 All men in Wales should have access through the NHS to the best possible diagnostic tests for prostate cancer
P-05-849 All men in Wales should have access
through the NHS to the best possible diagnostic tests for prostate cancer
This petition was
submitted by Stuart Davies, having
collected 5,916 signatures online and 429 on paper, a total of 6,345
signatures.
Text of Petition
We, the undersigned
call on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to act now
and make high-quality, multi-parametric MRI (mpMRI) before biopsy scans
available to all eligible men across Wales who have a suspicion of prostate
cancer.
Why is this petition
needed?
Prostate cancer can be difficult to diagnose. For years, men have had biopsies
that are invasive and painful. Sometimes they can lead to serious infections –
we only want men to have a biopsy if it is needed.
If a biopsy is carried out before an mpMRI this involves using a series of
needles that randomly sample tissue from the prostate, to see whether there are
any cancerous cells. The problem with these techniques is there are gaps
between the needles, so sometimes significant cancers can be missed if that
section of tissue isn't sampled. A biopsy can lead to false positives, where
clinically insignificant cancer is diagnosed, this can lead to unnecessary
overtreatment.
mpMRI scans can be used with other tests to improve the number of aggressive
prostate cancers being caught earlier. If the mpMRI is carried out to a
sufficient standard it's also been proven to safely reduce the number of men
who may have biopsies unnecessarily, by ruling them out of having prostate
cancer at an earlier stage.
What is mpMRI?
mpMRI means multi-parametric MRI. This combines up to three different types of
scan for a clearer picture of what's going on in the prostate. Also, an
injection of a dye means that scan images can be enhanced making it clearer to
see if cancer is present or not. This is different to a standard MRI scan which
creates an image of an internal organ, these are rarely clear enough to
confidently diagnose early prostate cancer.
What is happening in Wales?
There are 7 Health Boards in Wales, mpMRI before biopsy is being provided in 3
Health Boards. Only one board is doing it to a standard high enough to safely
rule men out of biopsy. This means men in 4 Health Boards do not have access to
mpMRI as a diagnostic test, unless they pay more than £900 to have it done
privately.
Find more information about mpMRI and biopsies here:
https://prostatecanceruk.org/prostate-information/prostate-tests/introduction-to-prostate-tests
Assembly
Constituency and Region
- Clwyd South
- North Wales
Status
This petition
was considered completed by the Petitions
Committee at its meeting on 16/03/2021.
The petition was
closed as part of a review of all petitions currently under consideration at
the Petitions Committee's final meeting of the Fifth Senedd, in light of the
upcoming election and the consideration given to this issue to date.
Full details of
the consideration of this petition by the Committee and related documents can
be seen on the Meetings tab above.
It was first
considered by the Petitions Committee on 11/12/2018.
Further
information
Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: Complete
First published: 06/12/2018