Members of staff from the Urology Department at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have expressed their gratitude to local fundraisers for their help in raising money for a new piece of equipment to allow the most accurate early detection of prostate cancer.
Over the last two years, a fundraising campaign by the Wirral and North Cheshire Prostate Cancer Support Group has raised at total of £65,000 to allow the Trust to purchase a new transrectal ultrasound machine and Histoscanning interface connection. Staff from the Marks and Spencer Chester Store also generously contributed £10,000 to the Support Group fund.
The new machine will allow clinicians to undertake a specialist form of ultrasound scanning called colour Doppler monitoring which observes the blood flow around the prostate during cryotherapy, or freezing of the prostate, as part of the treatment of prostate cancer. The new machine will also link to a new Histoscanning machine, purchased with the help of research funding.
Urology Consultant, Mr Nigel Parr said: “Conventional ultrasound cannot always accurately detect cancer within the prostate but Histoscanning identifies subtle variations in density allowing it to differentiate between benign and malignant tissue.
"We hope that this more detailed analysis of the data obtained from an ultrasound scan, will allow patients without cancer to be reassured that they do not have the condition and also to accurately localise any cancer found within the prostate so that more accurate, targeted biopsies can be performed.
“It is a tremendous achievement for our Trust to be able to purchase this item. It is only the fourth such machine in the country and one of only 30 currently available worldwide.”
“Having such equipment in Wirral clearly demonstrates our commitment to continually improving services and to providing the highest standards so that patients with symptoms of prostate cancer in Wirral and across the region can benefit from the very latest techniques available.”
Mr Parr continued: “We really appreciate the support that we have received from the Wirral and North Cheshire Prostate Cancer Support Group and Marks and Spencer over the past two years. We are especially grateful to their teams of fundraisers and many members of the public who have helped to raise this tremendous sum.”
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