News
Prostate cancer screening trial could save thousands of lives
Thousands of men’s lives could be saved, as a major new prostate cancer screening trial is set to get under way in the UK, backed by £42 million from the government and Prostate Cancer UK. The first-of-its-kind trial, called TRANSFORM, will use innovative screening methods such as MRI scans to detect prostate cancer, and will include hundreds of thousands of men across the country. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK and has no screening programme. It usually has no symptoms until it has grown large and may be more difficult to treat, and around 12,000 men die each year as a result. Screening for prostate cancer could identify these men earlier, before their cancer spreads. The trial has the potential to see new screening methods give more accurate results than the current blood tests, which can miss some cancers and often suggest prostate cancer when no cancer exists. Crucially, screening could also spot the disease even when no symptoms are displayed. Laura Kerby, Chief Executive at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “12,000 men die of prostate cancer each year and it’s the most common cancer that doesn’t have a national screening programme. It’s about time that changed. “That’s why we’re launching our biggest and most ambitious trial ever. It will finally give us the answers we need to develop a routine testing system and save thousands of men each year. Prostate Cancer UK’s unique focus and expertise
Sponsored by
Drones enable use of defibrillators
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have evaluated the possibility of alerting drones equipped with automated external defibrillators (AED) to patients with suspected cardiac arrest. In more than half of the cases, the drones were ahead of the ambulance by an average of three minutes. In cases where the patient was in cardiac
arrest, the drone-delivered defibrillator was used in a majority of cases. The results have been published in the journal The Lancet Digital Health. The use of an AED is the single most important factor in saving lives. Andreas Claesson, Associate Professor at
made us the only organisation that could really deliver this paradigm-shifting trial, and we’re delighted that the government has backed our vision to revolutionise diagnosis.” One in 4 black men will develop prostate cancer - double the risk of other men. Therefore, to ensure the trial helps reduce their risk of dying from this disease, 1 in 10 men invited to participate will be black men. Participating men in the screening trial will be aged 50 to 75, with black men eligible from the lower age range of 45 to 75. Men at higher risk of prostate cancer due to age and ethnicity will be recruited through their GP practice and invited to a screening visit.
Screening hub set up with Everton
LumiraDx, a point of care diagnostics company, has announced a strategic collaboration with Everton in the Community to set up England’s first community-based heart and lung screening hub. The official charity of Everton Football Club will run this novel screening hub from the recently opened People’s Place. The hub will provide the Merseyside community with access to the latest technologies and specialist input from a multidisciplinary team of primary care, heart, and lung specialists to focus on early diagnosis and early treatment for chronic breathlessness in a walk-in setting. Michael Salla, Deputy CEO for Everton in the Community, said: “We’re delighted to be launching this project, which is the first screening service of its kind for heart failure, COPD and asthma in England. It will use next generation diagnostics that don’t require phlebotomy, while also using artificial intelligence to help detect heart failure and prevent
12
www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I January 2024
premature mortality alongside reducing the complications of these conditions due to the early detection. We can’t thank AstraZeneca enough for their support to make this happen.” The heart and lung screening hub will work to
raise awareness of medical conditions which cause chronic breathlessness, offer screenings for heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other chronic conditions which are common in the local population as well as offer lifestyle reviews and advice. David Walton, Chief Commercial Officer at
LumiraDx, points out, “A full blood draw can be daunting for patients, so the use of a simple fingerstick sample for our NT-proBNP test greatly broadens access to heart health checks within the community. By diagnosing heart failure faster, we aim to make a positive impact on patient outcomes, which then translates into positive economic outcomes for the NHS.”
the Center for Cardiac Arrest Research at the Department of Clinical Research and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet, and principal investigator of the study, commented: “Our study now shows once and for all that it is possible to deliver AED with drones and that this can be done several minutes before the arrival of the ambulance in connection with acute cardiac arrest. “This time saving meant that the healthcare
emergency centre could instruct the person who called the ambulance to retrieve and use the AED in several cases before the ambulance arrived.” The research was mainly funded by the
Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation. Visit: https://
tinyurl.com/mr2p2aaf
Cardiac risk and
ADHD medication Longer cumulative duration of attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication use is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, particularly hypertension and arterial disease, compared with non-use,. This is according to a study of 278,000 individuals in Sweden ages 6 to 64 who had an incident ADHD diagnosis or ADHD medication dispensation. These findings highlight the importance
of carefully weighing potential benefits and risks when making treatment decisions about long-term ADHD medication use. Clinicians should regularly and consistently monitor cardiovascular signs and symptoms throughout the course of treatment. To view the full paper, in JAMA Psychiatry, visit:
https://tinyurl.com/2kbx3b2t
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
