Prostate Cancer – 150 men “dying to know “if they have a prostate cancer per year.

Around 75 men per year die, directly at the hands of the NHS to be told that they do not have a prostate cancer but there is nothing the NHS can do to save their lives because of a serious sepsis infection caused directly by having a transrectal biopsy. There are also around 75 deaths in men told that they have pc but they die because of a sepsis infection from the transrectal biopsy.
Most of these sepsis deaths are preventable if biopsies are performed transperineally rather than transrectally.

I too have been diagnosed with prostate cancer (pc) although I had to pay for a private assessment of the matter since my gps decided that my raised psa levels, enlarged prostate and family history of father and brother with pc did not merit any onward referral to a urologist since the gps were using outdated cancer referral guidance dating back to 2019. The gps somehow came to the wrong prognosis that I had a bph ( benign prostate hyperplasia) when the reality of it was that I had grade 2 pc. Had I not persevered in getting a definitive diagnosis privately then I would be sitting here thinking that there is no prostate cancer and there was nothing to worry about.

When I was scheduled to have my biopsy a friend of mine who used to live in Norway told me about his friend who died from a transrectal biopsy. It just so happened that his friend’s daughter convinced a Norwegian journalist to run a headline story and it caused such a stir that effectively the Norwegian health board stopped using transrectal biopsies overnight.
So, my stance was simple that if any medical organisation said that my investigation for pc would entail a biopsy which was to be performed transrectally then I would refuse it and pay privately for a trans perineal biopsy because I would not accept such a high mortality rate.
It’s suggested that 3 men in 1000 will die having contracted sepsis following on from a transrectal biopsy. Around 100,000 biopsies are performed per year in the uk and still the NHS persists with using transrectal biopsies. Say about 50% of pc investigations are transrectal biopsies hence about 150 deaths per year of which half the men that died will not have pc.

I did ask, using the freedom of information act, on 18th July for statistics on sepsis deaths from transrectal biopsies for pc and have been informed that the cost to generate such reports and statistics exceeds the NHS ‘time cost limit!’

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer . I have undergone biopsies and will be having further biopsies in the future. Hence, I seek this information so that I can be in an informed position to make decisions about these further biopsies which obviously will assist me in mentally coping with cancer. I understand that the provision of the Equality Act applies to prevent discrimination towards people with cancer. It feels like the failure of being supplied information or having any help or assistance is discriminatory.

I just wonder if the BBC highlighted such a serious issue on national TV then maybe the same thing will happen in the UK as did in Norway and the NHS will be forced to switch to trans perineal biopsies? Just a thought.

The biopsy issue, as well as failing to set up a screening program ( cf breast cancer screening), failing to embrace new tests eg PSA3 or PSE, failing to send pc blood investigation samples off for genetic testing which seems to happen for breast cancer investigations and so on.