Doctors warn of prostate cancer diagnoses doubling as country faces future ‘treatment crisis’

Around 4000 Kiwi men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year but that number is projected to rise. Photo / 123rf

New Zealand’s healthcare system faces a “mounting crisis” as prostate cancer diagnoses are projected to double over the next two decades, doctors are warning.

A research report has projected about 42,009 diagnoses will be made from 2040-44, up from the 19,132 recorded in 2015-19.

The country is lagging behind international best practice in prevention and treatment of New Zealand’s most commonly diagnosed cancer, from which more than 700 men die each year, they said.

Consultant urologist Jim Duthie said New Zealand’s public health system lacks modern treatment options, which are readily available in comparable countries.

Those include the latest medicines, properly resourced active surveillance programmes and robotic surgery.

“We’re asking patients to accept second-tier treatment options while watching their disease progress.

“This creates an avoidable pathway to metastatic and incurable disease,” he said.

Men 50 years old and over need to embrace consistent health monitoring and ask their GPs for regular prostate cancer blood tests to catch the disease early, he said.

“Not having visited a GP in 20 years is not a badge of honour.”

The projected surge in cases will threaten to overwhelm an already stretched healthcare system, worsening the problem, Duthie said.

“The question isn’t whether we can afford to act – it’s whether we can afford not to.”

Duthie said the Government needs to introduce a comprehensive nationwide response to combat the issue.

Prostate Cancer Foundation NZ is advocating for a four-year pilot screening programme in two districts to detect medium and high-risk cases early.

It would cost around $6.5 million over four years but could potentially return over $100m to the health system in cost savings, said the foundation.

Over half a billion dollars in health gains could also be generated while $1m in personal income loss for working-age men could be avoided, it said.

New Zealand First recently introduced a member’s bill to establish a four-year pilot screening programme in one region in the North Island and another in the South Island.

Foundation CEO Peter Dickens said the bill would allow New Zealand to join a European Union screening pilot involving 12 other countries.

Taking part would allow New Zealand to learn lessons relevant to its population of at-risk men while also contributing to and learning from international knowledge, he said.

Dickens called for all parties to support the bill.

“We owe it to every man in New Zealand to take this issue seriously. If we can demonstrate this is truly an issue of national importance, then we can start having more open conversations about this devastating disease and the steps needed to address it.”