Ongoing increases in the global number of prostate cancer cases expected to motivate test developers to deliver better screening tests to pathologists and clinical lab scientists
No less an authority than the peer-reviewed healthcare journal The Lancet is drawing attention to predictions of increasing prostate cancer cases across the globe, triggering calls for the development of cheaper, faster, and more accurate assays that pathologists and medical laboratories can use to screen for—and diagnose—prostate cancer.
Swift population growth and rising life expectancy will cause the prostate cancer death rate to nearly double in the next 20 years, according to a new study that has led scientists to call for immediate, critical improvements in clinical laboratory testing for cancer screening, Financial Times (FT) reported.
“Low- and middle-income countries need to prepare to prevent a sharp rise in fatalities while richer nations should pay more attention to young men at higher risk of the disease,” FT noted. The study, titled, “The Lancet Commission on Prostate Cancer: Planning for the Surge in Cases,” predicts cases will jump from 1.4 million in 2020 to 2.9 million by 2040.
“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in 112 countries, and accounts for 15% of cancers. In this Commission, we report projections of prostate cancer cases in 2040 on the basis of data for demographic changes worldwide and rising life expectancy. … This surge in cases cannot be prevented by lifestyle changes or public health interventions alone, and governments need to prepare strategies to deal with it,” the study authors wrote.
“The findings in this Commission provide a pathway forward for healthcare providers and funders, public health bodies, research funders, governments, and the broader patient and clinical community,” the authors noted. In their Lancet paper, the researchers define clear areas for improvement.
Given the shortage worldwide of pathologists—especially highly-trained pathologists—the gap between the demand/need for expanded prostate cancer testing as screens (along with prostate biopsies) and the available supply of pathologists will encourage companies to develop screening and diagnostic tests that are accurate and automated, thus increasing the productivity of the available pathologists.
“As more and more men around the world live to middle and old age, there will be an inevitable rise in the number of prostate cancer cases. We know this surge in cases is coming, so we need to start planning and take action now,” said Nick James, PhD (above), Professor of Prostate and Bladder Cancer Research at The Institute of Cancer Research, in a press release. Pathologists and medical laboratories worldwide will want to monitor progress of The Lancet Commission’s recommendations. (Photo copyright: Institute of Cancer Research.)
“Evidence-based interventions, such as improved early detection and education programs, will help to save lives and prevent ill health from prostate cancer in the years to come. This is especially true for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) which will bear the overwhelming brunt of future cases,” he said in a press release.
Communication is key. “Improved outreach programs are needed to better inform people of the key signs to look out for and what to do next,” James N’Dow, MD, Professor and Chair in Surgery and Director of the Academic Urology Unit at the University of Aberdeen in the UK, told the Financial Times. “Implementing these in tandem with investments in cost-effective early diagnostic systems will be key to preventing deaths,” he added.
Capitalizing on artificial intelligence (AI) analysis to help translate results was another area The Lancet Commission researchers focused on, Financial Times noted.
AI could “subdivide disease into potentially valuable additional subgroups to help with treatment selection. In environments with few or no pathologists, these changes could be transformational,” the study authors wrote.
High Income Countries (HICs) would benefit from AI by empowering patients. “Linking cloud-based records to artificial intelligence systems could allow access to context-sensitive, up-to-date advice for both patients and health professionals, and could be used to drive evidence-based change in all settings,” the study authors added. Such a trend could lead to specialist prostate cancer pathologists being referred cases from around the world as digital pathology systems become faster and less expensive.
Effective treatment strategies and bolstering areas of need is also key, the study notes. “Many LMICs have urgent need for expansion of radiotherapy and surgery services,” the study authors wrote. The researchers stress the need to immediately implement expansion programs to keep up with anticipated near-future demand.
Cancer drug therapy should follow suit.
“Research and the development of risk-stratified regulatory models need to be facilitated,” the study authors noted, citing a focus on drug repurposing and dose de-escalation. “Novel clinical trial designs, such as multi-arm platforms, should be supported and expanded,” they added.
Unique Needs of LMICs, HICs
The Lancet Commission researchers’ recommendations shift depending on the financial health of a specific area. HICs are experiencing a 30-year decline in the number of deaths resulting from prostate cancer, presumably from additional testing measures and public health campaigns that may be lacking in LMICs, Financial Times reported. And as population growth soars, low-to-middle income populations “will need to be prepared for the strain the expected surge in cases will put on health resources.”
For HICs, the study dissected the limitations of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. The researchers pointed out that PSA’s inaccuracies in screening symptomless patients can pinpoint “cancers that may never cause symptoms and need no treatment,” Financial Times reported.
Missing high-risk cases was also a cause for concern. “Diagnostic pathways should be modified to facilitate early detection of prostate cancer while avoiding overdiagnosis and overtreatment of trivial disease,” the study notes.
Screenings for high-risk younger men, and continuing public campaigns about prostate cancer, should be a focus for HICs, the study authors noted. “These would include people who have a family history of the disease, are of African ancestry, or carry a genetic mutation known as BRCA2,” Financial Times reported.
While the undertaking may sound intimidating—there is already such a heavy impact worldwide from prostate cancer—the researchers are optimistic of their recommendations.
“Options to improve care are already available at moderate cost. We found that late diagnosis is widespread worldwide, but especially in LMICs, where it is the norm. Early diagnosis improves prognosis and outcomes, and reduces societal and individual costs, and we recommend changes to the diagnostic pathway that can be immediately implemented,” the study authors wrote.
What Comes Next
“More research is needed among various ethnic groups to expand understanding of prostate cancer beyond the findings from studies that were largely based on data from white men,” The Lancet Commission told the Financial Times.
Astute pathologists and medical laboratories will want to monitor efforts to develop assays that are inexpensive, more accurate, and produce faster answers. Demand for these tests will be substantial—both in developed and developing nations.
Predicted steady increase in the number of new cancer cases globally will stress pathologist and clinical laboratories to process specimens and issue timely cancer diagnoses to referring physicians and patients
In many nations today, it is recognized that the demand for cancer testing services outstrips the capacity of anatomic pathology laboratories to perform cancer testing in a timely manner. Now a new report published in CA, a journal of the American Cancer Society, estimates that the number of new cancers globally will increase substantially during the next few decades.
With today’s cancer diagnostic technologies and standards of practice, it is anatomic pathologists who will typically receive biopsies or patient specimens, perform the tests, and confirm/report whether a patient has cancer. Thus, this new report projecting that the disease will grow 77% to 35 million cases by the year 2050 should be of interest to pathology groups and clinical laboratories worldwide.
The report is a collaboration between the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO/IARC) and the American Cancer Society (ACS). The report called for “global escalation of cancer control measures” and paying close attention to risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and infections, according to an IARC statement.
Unfortunately, the news about increasing cancer cases comes at a time when worldwide demand for pathologists already far exceeds available supply.
“The impact of this increase will not be felt evenly across countries of different HDI [human development index] levels. Those who have the fewest resources to manage their cancer burdens will bear the brunt of the global cancer burden,” said epidemiology of cancer researcher Freddie Bray, PhD (above), Head of the Cancer Surveillance Branch at the IARC in Lyon, France, in a press release. Bray “specializes in estimating the global cancer burden and predicting future trends,” according to the organization’s website. He also “leads the Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development (GICR), which is aimed at expanding the coverage and quality of population-based cancer registries in low- and middle-income countries.” Clinical laboratories and anatomic pathologists in the United States and abroad would be wise to keep an eye on the coming cancer burden. (Photo copyright: IARC.)
Top Diagnosed Cancers
To complete their study, the WHO/IARC researchers tapped GLOBOCAN [Global Cancer Observatory] estimates of cancer incidence and mortality, the disease’s geographical variability, and predictions based on global demographic projections.
The 10 most frequently diagnosed cancers for men and women (combined) by percent of cancer sites and number of new cases in 2022 include:
For women, the cancer most often diagnosed was at the breast site. It was also the leading cause of death from cancer, the CA study noted, adding that lung and colorectal cancer cases and deaths in women followed breast cancer.
For men, lung cancer was the top cancer diagnosed in terms of cases and deaths, ahead of prostate and colorectal cancer for new cases.
Geographic HDI Affects Cancer of Citizens
The geographic areas with the highest distribution of new cancer cases and mortality rates in 2022, according to the CA paper, are:
Asia: 49.2% of cases, 56.1% of deaths.
Africa: 5.9% of cases, 7.8% of deaths.
Oceania: 1.4% of cases, 0.8% of deaths.
Euro: 22.4% of cases, 20.4% of deaths.
Americas: 21.2% of cases, 14.9% of deaths.
The WHO/IARC report also associated a country’s human development index (HDI)—a measure of health, longevity, and standard of living—with the likelihood of its residents developing cancer, USA Today reported.
“From a global perspective, the risk of developing cancer tends to increase with increasing HDI level. For example, the cumulative risk of men developing cancer before age of 75 years in 2022 ranged from approximately 10% in low HDI settings to over 30% in very high HDI settings,” the researchers wrote in their CA paper.
This suggests that a lack of resources to diagnose and treat cancer can hinder response and treatment.
In a news release, the WHO pointed out examples of what it termed “striking cancer inequity by HDI.”
“Women in lower HDI countries are 50% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than women in high HDI countries, yet they are at much higher risk of dying of the disease due to late diagnosis and inadequate access to quality treatment,” said medical epidemiologist Isabelle Soerjomataram, MD, PhD, Deputy Head of the Cancer Surveillance Branch, WHO/IARC, in the news release.
Additionally, lung cancer-related resources were four to seven times more likely to be offered in a high-income country than a lower-income country, the WHO noted.
“WHO’s new global survey sheds light on major inequalities and lack of financial protection for cancer around the world, with populations—especially in lower income countries—unable to access the basics of cancer care,” said Bente Mikkelsen, MD, Director of the WHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, in the news release.
Current State of Pathology Demand
Is the pathology industry prepared for a global cancer burden? Hardly.
In “Examining the Worldwide Pathologist Shortage,” Dark Daily’s sister publication The Dark Report found that demand for pathology services is growing faster than the number of pathologists available to meet that demand. This is true for the United States and most other nations. Consequently, efforts are underway to more accurately measure the number of pathologists practicing in each country. Early data support the claim of an inadequate number of pathologists.
Thus, aligning clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology resources with cancer projections is especially important in light of the WHO/IARC’s recent report which suggests the number of cancer diagnoses and different types of cancer will increase dramatically in coming years.
The data could be helpful to diagnostic leaders seeking evidence to support training of more anatomic pathologists and expansion of AP laboratories, where cancer is most often confirmed and reported.
New ‘simple’ pricing scheme will provide transparency and value to all stakeholders, says company’s Chief Pharmacy Officer
Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) is planning to scrap what it says is an old-school prescription reimbursement model and turn to a new way to price prescription medications at its 9,000 CVS pharmacies nationwide. Why is this relevant for clinical laboratory and pathology managers? It shows the disruption that is ongoing in healthcare.
Like clinical laboratories, retail pharmacies have significant reimbursement, competition, and labor challenges to address. But unique to retail pharmacies is the emergence of pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies that work between health insurance plans and drug makers.
“National pharmacy chains found themselves disintermediated from providing prescriptions to patients by pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies. By 2021, PBMs had captured $484 billion of the total prescription drug spending of $576.9 billion. That meant PBMs controlled 84% of the prescription drug market! That caused retail pharmacies to look for new sources of revenue,” noted Dark Daily’s sister publication The Dark Report.
This arrangement may be motivating retail pharmacy companies to seek ways to recover the volume lost to PBMs.
CVS’ new CostVantage model will work with a formula based on how much CVS paid for the drug, a set markup over those costs, and a fee for pharmacy services to fill the prescription, according to a news release. Some experts and publications have compared the change to the approach used by the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company.
CVS Health expects to start CostVantage in 2024 before introducing it to PBMs for commercial payers in 2025.
CVS is “committed to lowering drug pricing,” CVS Health Chief Executive Officer Karen Lynch (above), CVS Health’s President and Chief Executive Officer, told CNBC. “What this (the new model) does is it essentially aligns the economics of our pricing for drugs to what consumers will pay at the pharmacy counter,” she added. Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists should understand that this new pricing strategy may be an attempt by CVS to win back prescription business lost to pharmacy benefit management companies. (Photo copyright: Rick Burn/Wikipedia.)
CVS Aims for Value and Transparency
CVS Health’s leaders believe it is time for a change in how the company’s pharmacies are reimbursed by PBMs and other payers.
Generic drugs dispensed in CVS pharmacies reached 90%. “That limits the capacity or the amount of value remaining through the higher levels of generic dispensing,” he said.
Also branded drugs have risen in price about 40% since 2019, leading to “higher costs for patients, our customers’ plans, and PBM plan sponsors.”
“This model has reached an inflection point that is just ripe for change,” Shah said. “We’re changing this outdated reimbursement model that made sense for the last decade, but no longer works today or in the future. We’re introducing a new simple model that provides value for all stakeholders across the supply chain in a much more simple, transparent, and comprehensive way,” he continued.
Cost-Plus Plans versus Retail Drug Prices
Fierce Healthcare compared CVS CostVantage to the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which claims it offers prescription drugs at prices below traditional pharmacies and openly shares with customers the “15% markup over its cost, plus pharmacy fees.”
Some examples on the company’s website include: Abiraterone acetate (generic for Zytiga), a prostate cancer treatment. It is priced at $33.50, compared to $1,093 retail. Cost Plus Drug Company says its costs are:
Manufacturing: $24.60
15% markup: $3.90
Pharmacy labor fee: $5.00
Another drug offered is canagliflozin (generic for Invokana), a type 2 diabetes medication, which sells for $245.92, compared to $676.14 retail. Cost Plus Drug Company says its costs are:
Fein predicts there will be more cost-plus models by retail pharmacies. “Other large pharmacies will likely follow CVS with attempts to force payers and PBMs to accept some form of cost-plus reimbursement,” he wrote.
Fein noted pharmacies prefer cost-plus models for reasons including the “stripping away of complexity and hidden cross-subsidies. … For a pharmacy, the same PBM would pay the same price for the same prescription regardless of the PBM’s arrangement with different plan sponsors.”
Turbulent Retail Pharmacy Market
CVS has also been dealing with limited growth, pharmacist labor relations issues, and a decline in COVID-19 testing, Healthcare Dive reported.
Meanwhile, pharmacies have been closing store sites and affiliated physician practices. CVS announced plans to close 900 stores between 2022 and 2024, according to a news release.
Rite Aid Corporation, Philadelphia, announced last year that it had filed for bankruptcy and may eventually close 400 to 500 of its 2,100 stores.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Deerfield, Ill., intends to close 150 US and 300 United Kingdom locations, according to its former Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe’s remarks in a third quarter 2023 earnings call transcribed by Motley Fool.
The turbulence in the retail pharmacy market is another sign of ongoing disruption in healthcare. Long-established sectors are experiencing market shifts that are eroding their access to patients and ability to generate adequate profits.
Understanding how pharmacies approach these issues may help medical laboratory and pathology managers develop strategies for adding value to their relationships with healthcare providers and insurance plans.
Findings suggest new medical guidelines may be needed to determine when to perform clinical laboratory cancer screenings on people under 50
From 1990-2019, new diagnoses of early-onset cancer in individuals under 50 years of age increased by 79%, according to a British Medical Journal (BMJ) news release describing research published last year in BMJ Oncology. The question for anatomic pathology laboratories to consider is, why are more people under 50 being diagnosed with cancer than in earlier years? And do medical guidelines need to be changed to allow more cancer screening for individuals under 50-years old?
This new revelation challenges previously held beliefs about the number of younger adults under 50 experiencing early-onset cancer. Patients can sometimes miss symptoms by attributing them to a more benign condition.
“While cancer tends to be more common in older people, the evidence suggests that cases among the under 50s have been rising in many parts of the world since the 1990s. But most of these studies have focused on regional and national differences; and few have looked at the issue from a global perspective or the risk factors for younger adults, say the researchers. In a bid to plug these knowledge gaps, they drew on data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Study for 29 cancers in 204 countries and regions,” the BMJ news release states.
According to the news release, “Breast cancer accounted for the highest number of ‘early-onset’ cases in this age group in 2019. But cancers of the windpipe (nasopharynx) and prostate have risen the fastest since 1990, the analysis reveals. Cancers exacting the heaviest death toll and compromising health the most among younger adults in 2019 were those of the breast, windpipe, lung, bowel, and stomach.”
Although these statistics are being seen worldwide, the highest rates are in North America, Australasia, and Western Europe. However, high death rates due to cancer are also being seen in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Oceania. Economic disparities in the latter geographical regions may account for both fewer diagnoses and higher death rates.
“And in low to middle income countries, early onset cancer had a much greater impact on women than on men, in terms of both deaths and subsequent poor health,” the BMJ news release noted.
In an editorial they published in BMJ Oncology on the study findings, Ashleigh Hamilton, PhD (left), Academic Clinical Lecturer, and Helen Coleman, PhD (right), Professor, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, both at the Center for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast in the UK wrote, “The epidemiological landscape of cancer incidence is changing. … Prevention and early detection measures are urgently required, along with identifying optimal treatment strategies for early-onset cancers, which should include a holistic approach addressing the unique supportive care needs of younger patients.” Anatomic pathology laboratories will play an important role in diagnosing and treating younger cancer patients. (Photo copyrights: Queen’s University Belfast.)
What Caused the Increase?
“It’s such an important question, and it points to the need for more research in all kinds of domains—in population science, behavioral health, public health, and basic science as well,” said medical oncologist Veda Giri, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, in a news release. Giri directs the Yale Cancer Center Early-Onset Cancer Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital.
Although experts are still trying to determine exactly where these cases are coming from, signs point to both genetic and lifestyle factors, the BMJ news releases noted. Tobacco and alcohol use, diets high in cholesterol and sodium, and physical inactivity are all lifestyle risk factors. Experts recommend a healthy diet and exercise routine with minimal alcohol consumption.
As for family history? “We’re beginning to recognize that family history is very important,” says Jeremy Kortmansky, MD, also a Yale Medicine medical oncologist.
According to CNN Health, these rates of early-onset cancer are more common in female patients, with rates going up an average of 0.67% each year.
“For young women who have a significant family history of cancer in the family, we are starting to refer them to a high-risk clinic—even if the cancer in their family is not breast cancer,” Kortmansky noted.
Doctors advise patients to implement healthy habits into their lives, not ignore symptoms, advocate for themselves, and be aware of their family history. Cancer patients may be prescribed cancer treatments at a much earlier age. Medical guidelines for patients may continue to shift and change. And oncologists may be incorporating alternative therapies to help younger patients deal with the shock of their diagnosis.
Will Cancer Rates Continue to Rise?
“Based on the observed trends for the past three decades, the researchers estimate that the global number of new early-onset cancer cases and associated deaths will rise by a further 31% and 21% respectively in 2030, with those in their 40s the most at risk,” the BMJ news release noted.
In an editorial they penned for BMJ Oncology on the findings of the cancer study titled, “Shifting Tides: The Rising Tide of Early-Onset Cancers Demands Attention,” Ashleigh Hamilton, PhD, Academic Clinical Lecturer, and Helen Coleman, PhD, Professor, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, both at the Center for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast in the UK wrote, “Full understanding of the reasons driving the observed trends remains elusive, although lifestyle factors are likely contributing, and novel areas of research such as antibiotic usage, the gut microbiome, outdoor air pollution, and early life exposures are being explored. It is crucial that we better understand the underlying reasons for the increase in early-onset cancers, in order to inform prevention strategies.”
Clinical laboratories should be aware of these findings and the changing landscape of cancer screenings, as they will play a key role in diagnoses. Younger patients may be advocating for cancer screenings and doctors may be ordering them depending on the patient’s symptoms and family history. Anatomic pathology professionals should expect new guidelines when it comes to cancer diagnostics and treatment.
Though still in trials, early results show tests may be more accurate than traditional clinical laboratory tests for detecting prostate cancer
Within weeks of each other, different research teams in the US and UK published findings of their respective efforts to develop a better, more accurate clinical laboratory prostate cancer test. With cancer being a leading cause of death among men—second only to heart disease according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—new diagnostics to identify prostate cancer would be a boon to precision medicine treatments for the deadly disease and could save many lives.
Thus, these are two different pathways toward the goal of achieving earlier, more accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer, the holy grail of prostate cancer diagnosis.
“There is currently no single test for prostate cancer, but PSA blood tests are among the most used, alongside physical examinations, MRI scans, and biopsies,” said Dmitry Pshezhetskiy, PhD (above), Professorial Research Fellow at University of East Anglia and one of the authors of the UEA study. “However, PSA blood tests are not routinely used to screen for prostate cancer, as results can be unreliable. Only about a quarter of people who have a prostate biopsy due to an elevated PSA level are found to have prostate cancer. There has therefore been a drive to create a new blood test with greater accuracy.” With the completion of the US and UK studies, clinical laboratories may soon have a new diagnostic test for prostate cancer. (Photo copyright: University of East Anglia.)
East Anglia’s Research into a More Accurate Blood Test
Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) worked with researchers from Imperial College in London, Imperial College NHS Trust, and Oxford BioDynamics to develop a new precision medicine blood test that can detect prostate cancer with greater accuracy than current methods.
The researchers evaluated their test in a pilot study involving 147 patients. They found their testing method had a 94% accuracy rate, which is higher than that of PSA testing alone. They discovered their test significantly improved the overall detection of prostate cancer in men who are at risk for the disease.
“When tested in the context of screening a population at risk, the PSE test yields a rapid and minimally invasive prostate cancer diagnosis with impressive performance,” Dmitry Pshezhetskiy, PhD, Professorial Research Fellow at UEA and one of the authors of the study told Science Daily. “This suggests a real benefit for both diagnostic and screening purposes.”
The UK scientists hope their test can eventually be used in everyday clinical practice as there is a need for a highly accurate method for prostate cancer screening that does not subject patients to unnecessary, costly, invasive procedures.
Cedars-Sinai’s Research into Nanotechnology Cancer Testing
Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Cancer took a different approach to diagnosing prostate cancer by developing a nanotechnology-based liquid biopsy test that detects the disease even in microscopic amounts.
Their test isolates and identifies extracellular vesicles (EVs) from blood samples. EVs are microscopic non-reproducing protein and genetic material shed by all cells. Cedars-Sinai’s EV Digital Scoring Assay accurately extracts EVs from blood and analyzes them faster than similar currently available tests.
“This research will revolutionize the liquid biopsy in prostate cancer,” said oncologist Edwin Posadas, MD, Medical Director of the Urologic Oncology Program and co-director of the Experimental Therapeutics Program in Cedars-Sinai Cancer in a press release. “The test is fast, minimally invasive and cost-effective, and opens up a new suite of tools that will help us optimize treatment and quality of life for prostate cancer patients.”
The researchers tested blood samples from 40 patients with prostate cancer. They found that their EV test could distinguish between cancer localized to the prostate and cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Microscopic cancer deposits, called micrometastases, are not always detectable, even with advanced imaging methods. When these deposits spread outside the prostate area, focused radiation cannot prevent further progression of the disease. Thus, the ability to identify cancer by locale within the body could lead to new precision medicine treatments for the illness.
“[The EV Digital Scoring Assay] would allow many patients to avoid the potential harms of radiation that isn’t targeting their disease, and instead receive systemic therapy that could slow disease progression,” Posadas explained.
Other Clinical Laboratory Tests for Prostate Cancer Under Development
According to the American Cancer Society, the number of prostate cancer cases is increasing. One out of eight men will be diagnosed with the illness during his lifetime. Thus, developers have been working on clinical laboratory tests to accurately detect the disease and save lives for some time.
In “University of East Anglia Researchers Develop Non-Invasive Prostate Cancer Urine Test,” Dark Daily reported on a urine test also developed by scientists at the University of East Anglia that clinical laboratories can use to not only accurately diagnose prostate cancer but also determine whether it is an aggressive form of the disease.
And in “UPMC Researchers Develop Artificial Intelligence Algorithm That Detects Prostate Cancer with ‘Near Perfect Accuracy’ in Effort to Improve How Pathologists Diagnose Cancer ,” we outlined how researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) working with Ibex Medical Analytics in Israel had developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm for digital pathology that can accurately diagnose prostate cancer. In the initial study, the algorithm—dubbed the Galen Prostate AI platform—accurately detected prostate cancer with 98% sensitivity and 97% specificity.
More research and clinical trials are needed before the new US and UK prostate cancer testing methods will be ready to be used in clinical settings. But it’s clear that ongoing research may soon produce new clinical laboratory tests and diagnostics for prostate cancer that will steer treatment options and allow for better patient outcomes.
