£37,950 in spring 2009 to provide a trans-rectal ultrasound and biopsy unit for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, with a further £5,000 contributed from the Norfolk and Waveney Prostate Cancer Support Group.
Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer in men, excluding simple skin cancers. A trans-rectal ultrasound machine is essential equipment for all patients requiring a prostate biopsy.
If a first biopsy is negative but further tests show that levels of the cancer marker PSA (prostate specific antigen) continue to rise, it is often necessary to repeat the biopsy. The second session is more intensive than the standard first biopsy in the outpatient clinic. Repeat biopsies are therefore often performed under a short general anaesthetic.
A new machine meant patients benefitting from only needing to attend hospital for a day visit rather than having to stay overnight. This enabled the waiting list to fall from over 8-10 weeks to a maximum target wait of two weeks.
