Local charity delivers ‘life-saving’ ultrasound to The Stokes Centre for Urology at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust | News

A new £100,000 diagnostic imaging device to detect prostate cancer has arrived at The Stokes Centre for Urology, thanks to local charity, The Prostate Project.

The ultrasound machine, made by Hitachi, fuses images from an MRI scan with the live ultrasound image, allowing doctors to detect prostate cancer more accurately. There are only four machines of its type currently in use by NHS Trusts across England.

This new Hitachi Ultrasound machine comes as part of the charity’s ‘Fabulous Fit Out’ appeal to buy equipment for The Stokes Centre for Urology, opened at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust last year. The build was funded by a £3million donation from the charity, matched by £3milion from Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust.

Speaking about the new Hitachi Ultrasound machine, Professor Langley, Director of Cancer Services at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, explains:

“The best way to detect prostate cancer in our patients is by carrying out an MRI to see if there are any suspicious areas which might represent cancer. However, we use ultrasound when we take biopsies from the prostate to verify whether cancer is present. Unfortunately, abnormalities are often invisible using this technique and it can be difficult to accurately target the area of suspicion within the gland.  

“This new machine will enable us to fuse together the MRI and ultrasound images in real-time. This is invaluable when we are taking the biopsies and enables us to detect prostate cancer much more accurately. It will also reduce the need to unnecessarily biopsy parts of the gland that are very unlikely to contain cancer so is less invasive for patients.”

Sue Sjuve, Chair of Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust said:

“I would like to thank The Prostate Project for the donation of this amazing new machine. We are very proud that The Stokes Centre is a part of Royal Surrey’s world-class cancer services, with the state of the art equipment and infrastructure to give men the best chance of beating prostate cancer.”

The Prostate Project raised the money for the machine through a gala evening organised by the PGA European and other fundraising activities.

Charity Chairman Alf Turner said:

"We are delighted to purchase the ultrasound due to the generous donations of our supporters of our "Fabulous Fit Out' Appeal, brainchild of our President, Tim Sharp.

“This demonstrates how the NHS and charities can combine to create a sector-leading facility for treating prostate cancer patients."