Former Prime Minister David Cameron has revealed he has been treated for prostate cancer.<\/p>\n
Lord Cameron, 59, told the Times newspaper his wife had insisted he go for a check-up after they listened to a BBC radio interview with entrepreneur Nick Jones, who was campaigning for more men to be tested after being diagnosed himself.<\/p>\n
The Tory peer had a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test earlier this year, followed by an MRI scan and a biopsy. He was then treated with focal therapy, which targets the area where the tumour is present using methods such as ultrasound waves to destroy cancer cells.<\/p>\n
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males in the UK, with around 55,000 new cases every year.<\/p>\n
A PSA test looks for proteins associated with prostate cancer and the result was high in Lord Cameron’s case.<\/p>\n
He told the newspaper he wanted to use his platform to support a call by Prostate Cancer Research, a charity which counts Mr Jones – founder of private members’ club chain Soho House – as a trustee, for screening to be offered to high-risk men.<\/p>\n
The cancer is most common in older age – particularly among men over 75. Cases in the under-50s are rare. It is also more common in black men.<\/p>\n
“I don’t particularly like discussing my personal intimate health issues, but I feel I ought to,” Lord Cameron said.<\/p>\n
“Let’s be honest. Men are not very good at talking about their health. We tend to put things off.”<\/p>\n
But he said: “I sort of thought, well, this has happened to you, and you should lend your voice to it.”<\/p>\n
Lord Cameron, Conservative prime minister between 2010 and 2016, and later foreign secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government, told the Times<\/a>: “I would feel bad if I didn’t come forward and say that I’ve had this experience. <\/p>\n “I had a scan. It helped me discover something that was wrong. It gave me the chance to deal with it.”<\/p>\n There is currently no screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK because of concerns about the accuracy of PSA tests.<\/p>\n But the peer’s intervention comes days after a major prostate cancer screening trial began in the country. It is aimed at finding the best way to detect the disease by comparing it to current NHS diagnostic practices – which can include blood tests and biopsies.<\/p>\n Prostate Cancer UK is jointly funding the programme. Its director of health services Chiara De Biase praised Lord Cameron for sharing his story and raising “vital awareness”.<\/p>\n “We lose 12,000 dads, brothers, sons and friends to this disease every year. We’ve reached a tipping point in the UK, with too many men dying from a curable disease,” De Biase said.<\/p>\n “Prostate cancer is the last major cancer without a screening programme, and we need change now.”<\/p>\n Around one in eight men will develop prostate cancer in their lives<\/a>, according to the charity, with research showing it has overtaken breast cancer as the most commonly diagnosed form of the disease in the UK.<\/p>\n