Wigworld Waterford

🧪🩸 A pioneering new UCD-led pilot study aims to transform how prostate cancer is detected in Ireland. As part of an EU-wide initiative, PRAISE-U will study how organised prostate cancer screening programmes can improve men's outcomes across Europe. In Ireland, the three-year project, co-funded by the European Union, will assess the effectiveness and feasibility of using a home-based finger prick prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to improve early detection and reduce prostate cancer mortality rates by making screening more accessible. The project aims to recruit 5,000 men from different socio-economic groups to take part in both urban and rural settings. These volunteers, aged 50 – 69 and living in Dublin and Waterford, will be randomly selected to receive an invitation to participate in the study over the next 12 months. The men will be asked to consent online at prostatecheck.ie; those participating will receive a free, home-based PSA test kit to their door, which can be returned in a provided freepost envelope. When the sample is received, it will be analysed, and the results will be made available to the men through a dedicated app and by a letter from the project office. If a man’s blood test indicates a potential risk of prostate cancer, they will be referred to a Rapid Access Prostate Clinic (RAPC) where consultant urologists will assess them and have access to modern diagnostic assessment in the well-established Rapid Access Prostate Clinics across the country. PRAISE-U (Prostate Cancer Awareness and Initiative for Screening in the European Union) is being undertaken in partnership with the Irish Society of Urology (ISU), the National Screening Service and Movember. One in six men in Ireland will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, but despite the life-saving potential of early detection, many delay or avoid screening due to fear of invasive procedures, underestimating their personal risk, or the inconvenience of visiting a doctor for a blood test.