Detecting prostate cancer earlier, can improve treatment outcomes and lower the likelihood that the cancer will metastasis, or spread. By investing in advanced prostate cancer detection and screening initiatives, Albertans are living longer and avoiding potentially unnecessary treatments.
Each year, thousands of Canadians undergo biopsies to detect prostate cancer and monitor disease progression. To increase the effectiveness of prostate cancer screening, ensuring test accuracy is paramount.
Thanks to your support, the Alberta Prostate Cancer Research Initiative (APCaRI) – a multi-disciplinary team of more than 100 prostate cancer professionals- is working hard to develop new and more accurate tests for detecting and treating prostate cancer.
Over the next five years, the team will study an extensive prostate cancer registry, with data from close to 9,000 Albertans diagnosed with prostate cancer. The team has two primary goals; to create state-of-the-art diagnostic tools that will help mitigate the risk of cancer metastasis, and to study disease progression to improve future treatment decisions. The valuable prostate-cancer specific information studied throughout this process will be significant towards progressing prostate cancer research. To date, this team has created an accurate and non-invasive blood test that has the ability to identify prostate cancer and reduce unnecessary biopsies.