Prostate Now the Leading
Cause of UK Male Cancer

LONDON (Reuters) - Prostate cancer is now the leading cause of cancer in men in Britain, ahead of lung cancer for the first time, according to new figures released on Monday.

The Prostate Cancer Charity said the latest available figures showed that 23,369 men were diagnosed with lung cancer in 1999, against 24,908 with prostate.

Britain's largest cancer organization, Cancer Research UK, confirmed that prostate was now the most common male cancer.

Chris Hiley, head of policy and research at the Prostate Cancer Charity, told Reuters several factors are responsible.

Male lung cancer rates are falling because fewer men smoke while the aging of the population and greater use of diagnostic tests means prostate cancers is on the rise.

The charity is campaigning to raise awareness of the disease and is funding research to develop a more reliable diagnostic test than the existing blood test.

Though widely used in the United States, so-called PSA testing is not recommended for general screening in the UK because it gives so many false positive results and because physicians are unsure how to treat early disease.

Unlike lung cancer, which remains a major killer, prostate cancer is often less aggressive. Many elderly men with the disease die from other causes, unaware they ever had prostate cancer.

Even so, the disease kills around 10,000 men in Britain every year.

Reference Source 89

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