At Kent Prostate Clinic we offer a comprehensive assessment of your prostate to find cancers early and manage your condition within a multidisciplinary team to give you the best possible outcome.
Getting tested
Testing for prostate cancer involves a blood test called PSA (prostate-specific antigen), as well as a discussion of your symptoms and a physical examination.
If you are aged 50 or above (or aged 45 and above with a strong family history of prostate cancer) you may wish to check your PSA.
PSA can be abnormally high in patients with cancer, but also in patients after a recent urine infection, ejaculation or cycling.
To help decide whether you should have a PSA test here are some useful online risk checkers for prostate cancer.
You can have this test with your GP, or contact us in advance to have your PSA done prior to your first consultation.
If your PSA is found to be abnormal
We would offer you a multi-parametric MRI scan of your prostate which allows us to see areas of cancer within the prostate. The image below shows an arrow pointing to the cancer, with schematic outlines the prostate (blue) and cancer (red) in the right image. For the scan you will lie flat for 45 minutes in a magnetic tunnel. You may therefore be unsuitable for the scan if you have metal implants in your head (such as clips from previous surgery) or your heart (such as a pacemaker).
If the MRI shows possible cancer
Depending on the results of your MRI scan you may require a prostate needle biopsy, a short procedure, to remove and examine cells taken from your prostate. More information on this is provided here.
If you are diagnosed with cancer
If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer we will arrange for discussion of your case in a Multidisciplinary Team Meeting. Here your history, symptoms, biopsy and scan results will be examined by a regional group of urologists, oncologists, pathologists, radiologists and specialist nurses. The team will offer you a recommendation on one or more possible treatment options which will be communicated back to you in a follow-up consultation.
Treatments for prostate cancer
Depending on your cancer type and stage you may be suitable for curative treatment which might involve surgical removal of your prostate (called "prostatectomy") or several types of radiotherapy. It is often the case that you have a choice of different treatments.
Using keyhole robotic surgery (Da Vinci prostatectomy), we are pleased to offer world-class outcomes for functional preservation and cancer cure rates. We will provide holistic post-operative aftercare including longterm monitoring. More information is provided here.
Alternatively, if you elect to have radiotherapy, you will have a consultation with an oncologist regarding the choice of treatments such as brachytherapy or external beam radiotherapy. Novel technologies now allow highly focussed treatment to minimise the impact to surrounding organs giving excellent results. Selected patients may also benefit from insertion of a "rectal spacer" to reduce the radiation damage to your bowels.
