Prostate Cancer Screening Service
Prostate Cancer Screening at Heath Lodge Clinic
Heath Lodge Clinic is proud to offer a new Prostate Cancer Screening Service from September 2025. We work with a team of leading Consultant Radiologists, Surgeons and Oncologists who specialise in scanning and treating prostate conditions.
A screening programme is a way of testing patients for a disease when they don’t have any symptoms. In the NHS, for example, there are screening programmes for breast, cervical and colon cancer, but presently not for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is most curable when picked up in its earliest stages, but unfortunately patients do not tend to show any symptoms at this stage.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with 1 in 8 at risk of developing it. Men aged over 50, or whose brother or father had prostate cancer are at an even greater risk; if you are black, your risk is double (ref Prostate UK). In the UK there are 56,000 new cases each year, causing 12,000 deaths.
Like a number of serious cancers, it can be present, and may be advanced, without any clinical symptoms.
Using MRI
Unfortunately, there isn’t a single test which can pick up patients who have prostate cancer and exclude those that do not. A PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood test can be performed and is often raised in patients with a prostate cancer and is a good marker to follow up if prostate cancer is identified. However, several other conditions can cause a raised PSA in a patient without prostate cancer. These include urine infections, or following a prostate examination, benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), sex and even exercise.
It is, therefore, an unreliable test to use in isolation, leading to patients being over diagnosed and over treated, with potential unwanted side effects. Additionally, some patients can have a significant prostate cancer but with a low PSA.
This is where MRI can help. MRI is an imaging test using magnetic fields which develops amazing pictures of the prostate. Specific sequences are used to study the prostate gland known as Multi-parametric MRI (mpMRI) or Bi-metric MRI (bm-MRI) prostate. This gives detailed anatomy of the gland and accurately measures the size allowing for the PSA to be measured related to the size of the gland. At Heath Lodge Clinic, our Prostate Cancer Screening Service uses this advanced MRI technology to provide patients with a more accurate and reliable method of early detection.
A recent international study, coordinated from University College London, has just been published and found no significant difference between the 2 types of MRI scanning of the prostate, it did comment that image quality and expert radiology reporting was crucial.
At Heath Lodge all of our prostate MRI scans are performed on our high-quality 3T MR scanner, and unlike some other services, each scan is double reported by two expert Consultant Radiologists, with many years of experience in prostate imaging, giving the highest possible accuracy.
Important Information
Is an MRI scan more reliable than a PSA test?
At present men aged over 50 who are experiencing symptoms, can request a PSA test which detects the level of the protein prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. However, PSA testing alone is considered too unreliable and has been linked to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of low-risk cancer.
A recent study, published in the BMJ invited asymptomatic men (that is, without any symptoms) between the ages of 50 and 75, average age 62, for a screening MRI performed on a 3T, high resolution scanner, together with a PSA blood test.
303 men were enrolled in the study, and 64 men were flagged as having potential cancer on MRI 48/303, 16% or due to a high PSA density, (16/303, 5%).
After assessment, 29 men, (about 10%) were found to have clinically significant prostate cancer needing treatment, and over half had a normal PSA blood test.
This means that more than half of serious cancers would have been missed with PSA alone and the patient wouldn’t have been referred for further investigation, such as an MRI or biopsy, because more than half of the patients had a serious cancer but a normal PSA blood test i.e. less than 3.0.
Given how treatable prostate cancer is when caught early, this research highlights the important value of MRI screening in the timely diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Accessing Prostate Imaging
We offer fast access to prostate MRI screening here at Heath Lodge Clinic in Knowle, Solihull (just off Junction 5 of the M42).
We have two 3T MRI scanners (the gold standard for prostate scans). For most patients, the prostate screening scan will be done quite quickly, in less than 20 minutes, and will not need to have an injection of dye. There are generally two patient pathways to access prostate imaging:
- A referral from a prostate specialist, (either NHS or private), such as a Consultant Urologist following an outpatient consultation for symptomatic patients.
- Via your GP as part of a screening programme
It is advisable to involve your GP to keep them informed, but also because they may also need to arrange for you to have a blood test, showing your current renal function (EGFR) and you will need a PSA.
These results need to be available ideally before booking an appointment or at least on the day of the scan – part of the scan protocol can involve an injection of contrast (dye) and we need to make sure that your kidneys are working properly, prior to the scan.
Once a copy of the MRI referral has been received, together with the relevant test results, our bookings team will contact you directly to arrange an appointment.
As for any MR scan, you will be asked to verbally complete an MRI safety questionnaire – this then gives us the opportunity to review any relevant medical information that might prevent us from performing the scan, including some previous operations, pacemakers etc.
If you suffer from claustrophobia, we may be able to help with a mild oral sedative – subject to a suitability assessment by one of our nursing team.
After your Scan
Once the scan has been completed, our specialist prostate Radiologists will review the images and compile a report that will be sent back to your referrer; occasionally, the Radiologists might suggest that you would benefit from repeating the scan with an injection of contrast (dye) injection to show up the blood supply to the prostate. This will probably be for about 10% of patients. There will be no additional charge for this, and it will take about 10 minutes.
Once your referrer has received and reviewed your report, (usually within 7 working days), there are several possible outcomes:
In most cases the result will be normal, but for some patients, our Radiology team may recommend that you see a prostate specialist, if you’re not already under the care of one, who can help to decide on whether any further investigations such as a biopsy or followup scans might be indicated or helpful for a potential diagnosis.
Your GP will be able to organise this for you through your local NHS services.
If you are already under the care of a Consultant Urologist, they will advise you of any onward care and investigations you may require, keeping your GP informed.
However, if you wish to pursue private care, we have two separate and independent teams of prostate specialists who can help.
They are based in Birmingham, and, with your consent, we would be happy to share your images and reports with them electronically.
We would advise you to discuss this option with your GP in advance and confirm that they are happy to provide an onward referral if necessary.
If the recommendation is for repeated MR scans after an interval, to monitor changes, these could either be arranged through NHS facilities, or we would be pleased to offer continued monitoring for you.
Our private prostate MRI screening scan is available on a self-funding basis as most insurance companies presently do not cover scans for screening alone.
Referrals
To get started please choose an option below, if you require any further help with the form or any questions about our prostrate screening then please email us at contact@heathlodgeclinic.co.uk or call us 01564 732150 and our team will be more than happy to help.
