Luminal Index MRI Identification of Treatment critical Prostate Cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
LIMIT P Ca – inviting men for prostate cancer screening using luminal index, bi-parametric and PSA density, to identify men with suspicious lesions and to evaluate acceptability
IRAS ID
287898
Contact name
Shonit Punwani
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN45191339
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
UCL Data Protection Number, Z6364106/2020/09/59
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 10 months, 1 days
Research summary
MRI is the best available test for the detection of prostate cancer, but at present this can only be provided in a hospital setting. Whilst MRI is being used, there are still many men (about 16%) that are being diagnosed with late-stage disease and almost 12,000 men dying per year from prostate cancer in the UK. Clearly, these men are not being scanned early enough in the time-course of their disease for treatment to make a difference. If we can detect their cancer earlier, we think we might be able to reduce deaths from prostate cancer.
We have developed a new MRI technique that can allow prostate cancer to be detected using a 5-minute scan as opposed to the current 35-40 minute MRI scan. As this novel scan is simple, cheap and has good performance, it can be delivered within the community setting even using an MRI scanner located in a travelling van. We believe that providing scans in the community setting could allow men, who would otherwise not be scanned, the opportunity to have their cancer detected earlier.
In this project, leading doctors and scientists from both hospital and GP settings are collaborating to elaborate the best pathway to deliver a community-based MRI scan. We will collect feasibility data and determine how acceptable is a short MRI-based prostate cancer screening process for participants, GPs, urologists and commissioners. We will explore screening invitations sent by GPs and within the community (via leaflets, social media, transport for London, barber shops, influencers…), hoping to attract more participants at risk due to their ethnicity. This first step will inform us whether a large national trial of our detection strategy using our new MRI technique is feasible. Should it be feasible, the results of this study will allow us to plan the national trial.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EM/0225
Date of REC Opinion
7 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion