A tool to help doctors and patients make informed choices about prostate cancer treatment has been approved by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
The Predict Prostate model and web tool was created by Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s (CUH) Academic Urology Group and the University of Cambridge’s Department of Epidemiology and Winton Centre.
Each year thousands of men are diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer and face the difficult decision about whether or not to opt for treatment and the risk of side effects such as incontinence or impotence.
To help make an informed choice, Predict Prostate takes patient information such as blood test results, the cancer grade and stage, and details about the patient’s age and overall health. This is compared to data from over 10,000 men to calculate 10 and 15 year survival estimates and whether treatment would make a difference.
The work was led by CUH consultant urologist, Vincent Gnanapragasam, and University of Cambridge professor, Paul Pharaoh, and undertaken by specialty registrar, David Thurtle, from CUH’s Department of Urology and Surgery.
Vincent Gnanapragasam, Consultant Urologist, Cambridge University Hospital “We are delighted that our work has been endorsed by NICE, since it means it can used with absolute confidence by patients and their clinicians to make better informed decisions. We are equally pleased that the website is proving of great use to people all over the globe.”
It is the first such resource to be endorsed by NICE in support of its guidelines and has been shown to reduce the likelihood of patients being recommended to have unnecessary treatment.
The tool is free to use anywhere in the world and has already been used by more than 22,000 patients and clinicians worldwide since its launch in January.
The tool can be accessed here.
