Local charity delivers ‘life-saving’ ultrasound to The Stokes Centre for Urology at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust.

A new £100,000 diagnostic imaging device to detect prostate cancer has arrived at The Stokes Centre for Urology, thanks to local charity, The Prostate Project.

The ultrasound machine, made by Hitachi, fuses images from an MRI scan with the live ultrasound image, allowing doctors to detect prostate cancer more accurately. There are only four machines of its type currently in use by NHS Trusts across England. This new Hitachi Ultrasound machine comes as part of the charity’s ‘Fabulous Fit Out’ appeal to buy equipment for The Stokes Centre for Urology, opened at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust last year. The build was funded by a £3million donation from the charity, matched by £3milion from Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust.

Speaking about the new Hitachi Ultrasound machine, Professor Langley, Professor of Urology at the Stokes Centre, explains:

“The best way to detect prostate cancer in our patients is by carrying out an MRI to see if there are any suspicious areas which might represent cancer. However we use ultrasound when we take tissue samples (biopsies) from the prostate to verify whether cancer is present but the abnormalities seen on MRI are often invisible on ultrasound. Therefore, it can be difficult to accurately target the area of suspicion within the gland.
“This new machine will enable us to fuse together the MRI and ultrasound images in real-time. This is invaluable when we are taking the biopsies and enables us to detect prostate cancer much more accurately. It will also reduce the need to unnecessarily biopsy parts of the gland that are very unlikely to contain cancer and is therefore less invasive for patients”.

Charity Chairman Alf Turner said:

“We are delighted to purchase the Ultrasound due to the generous donations of our supporters of our “Fabulous Fit Out’ Appeal, brainchild of our President, Tim Sharp.

Early diagnosis of prostate cancer is vital. If you catch it early cure rates are excellent. The Ultrasound, which diagnoses prostate cancer accurately and quickly, will save lives. Let’s stop one man dying every hour in our area from this disease. Men, know your risks (over 50 years old, family history, and being black), be aware of the symptoms and visit your GP if you have any concerns. Sue Sjuve, Chair of Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust said:

“I would like to thank The Prostate Project for the donation of this amazing new machine. We are very proud that The Stokes Centre is a part of Royal Surrey’s world-class cancer services, with the state of the art equipment and infrastructure to give men the best chance of beating prostate cancer.” The Prostate Project raised the money for the machine through a gala evening organised by the PGA European and other fundraising activities.

Watch BBC South to see the full story:

Listen also to BBC Radio Surrey: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08v45xg (Alf Turner 1.09.29 hrs, the news at 2.00.29 and Professor Langley at 2.09.55)
Notes: This new equipment can be used when the biopsy is performed under local anaesthetic or general anaesthetic and importantly the biopsy needles pass through the perineum rather than through the rectum, so dramatically reducing the risk of infection and possible sepsis. Prof Langley and the team in Guildford have been at the forefront of prostate cancer detection. He invented the Template Prostate Biopsy technique in 2003, a technique which is now considered the gold standard approach, accessing the prostate through the perineum. He comments, “Now we can superimpose the MRI and ultrasound images during the biopsy, this transforms the Template Prostate Biopsy approach into the ultimate diagnostic technique. Better still, this is now routinely available to all our NHS patients at the Stokes Centre for Urology in Guildford.

Contact: Patrick Haveron 01483 419488 / 07774 803851 / publicity@prostate-project.net

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