A CUTTING-EDGE new service is set to improve early diagnosis of prostate cancer at Dorset County Hospital.

Consultant urological surgeon Naveed Afzal has just performed the first prostate template biopsy procedures on three patients at the Dorchester hospital.

It is hoped the service, the first of its kind in the area on offer to male patients with suspected prostate cancer, will result in higher detection rates of the disease.

Mr Afzal said: “We are very pleased to be able to offer our patients this new procedure as it saves people the stress and inconvenience of coming in for repeated prostate biopsies and gives them an early diagnosis so they can begin their treatment quickly.

“This technique is generally only offered in specialist urological centres so we are delighted to be able to provide this service for our patients here at Dorset County Hospital.

“We have done our first three procedures and everything went very well.

“This will be a very valuable service for a select group of patients who have cancer that cannot be detected the conventional way.”

Standard biopsy procedures remain an accurate way of diagnosing prostate cancer but between 10 and 30 per cent of patients are given a ‘false negative result’, which means the biopsy result is negative although prostate cancer is present.

The new transperineal template biopsy is intended to provide a more accurate way of assessing and mapping the prostate and is important for people who have had repeated negative biopsies but are judge to be at high risk of prostate cancer.

The process was first introduced in America and is now being gradually introduces to a number of specialist urological centres in the UK, meaning Dorset County Hospital is very much leading the way for local hospital trusts.

Evaluations have shown it produces a higher cancer detection rate and more accurate assessments.

The procedure is done under a general anaesthetic and patients can go home the same day.