New data released by the Victorian Cancer Registry has found more than 600 Victorian men may not know they have potentially lethal prostate cancers, prompting an urgent call for men to get a prostate cancer check-up.
The figures have been published in the latest ‘Cancer in Victoria’ report, identifying a possible correlation with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report also confirms an increase in the proportion of more advanced prostate cancers diagnosed among Victorian men since 2018, with more than one in four men now being diagnosed with higher-grade prostate cancers.
The findings coincide with the release of new elective surgery data by the AIHW, revealing a five-fold increase in the number of Victorian men waiting more than a year for prostatectomies compared to 2017-18 and a 150 percent increase in the proportion of Victorian men waiting more than a year for biopsies compared to the previous year.
Chief Executive of Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, Anne Savage, said urgent action was needed to support Victorian cancer services with addressing the backlog of surgeries and encouraging men to get checked.
“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Victoria, accounting for 17 percent of all cancers diagnosed in Victoria in 2021 and 30 percent of all cancers diagnosed in males.
“The pandemic has had a major impact on prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment, with an estimated 624 missed diagnoses and high rates of men unable to access timely and essential cancer care.
“Of particular concern, five-year relative survival for prostate cancer fell from 95 percent in the five-year period from 2011 to 2015 to 94 percent from 2016 to 2020, bucking the positive national trend of improved survival over time.
“In regional Victoria, prostate cancer mortality rates are 25 percent higher, a disparity that will only widen without concerted action to increase access to services.
“Alarmingly, nearly 400 Victorian men will be newly diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer each year and 27 percent of all men diagnosed will be diagnosed with high-grade or metastatic disease.
“This data confirms the urgent need for a boost in funding of cancer care services statewide.
“Equally, we must support men with accessing prostate cancer check-ups and PSA tests via their GPs, to ensure we find these missing prostate cancers as quickly as possible so that they can be treated.”
In 2021 there were 6,141 Victorian men diagnosed with cancer and 826 Victorian men died from the disease.
Click here to read the data summary.
