A three-minute test for prostate cancer is being developed by scientists.
Prostate cancer kills 10,000 men in the UK each year
The test works by shining a light through a fluid sample to determine levels of a molecule called citrate, which dip in cancer's early stages.
At present the test needs to be carried out on a sample of prostate fluid taken with a needle under local anaesthetic.
A University of Durham team say early results have been highly promising and hope eventually to be able to use a sample of semen for the test.
It could mean that patients do not have to endure a two-week wait for test results following a biopsy.
And it offers hope of a replacement for the unreliable PSA blood test.
This is currently used to give a preliminary diagnosis, but often throws up inaccurate results, leading to unnecessary treatment, which can cause side effects, such as incontinence and impotence.
Initial results of the new test have been highly promising, but work is still at a relatively early stage.
The researchers now plan to assess the test on samples taken from prostate cancer patients from a local hospital.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK.
Each year about 34,000 men are diagnosed with the disease, and about 10,000 die from it. Read more...
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