Former British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he has been treated for prostate cancer. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he has early-stage prostate cancer, and called for more screenings in the country.
Cameron, 59, took a prostate-specific antigen blood test, which screens for proteins that show up with prostate cancer. Because his PSA was high, he had a biopsy, which showed he had cancer.
The United Kingdom doesn’t have a regular prostate cancer screening program because of concerns about the accuracy of the PSA test.
Cameron told the Times that he and his wife listened to a BBC radio interview with entrepreneur Nick Jones. Jones had been diagnosed and was pushing for more men to get screened. Cameron’s wife insisted that he get a test.
He was treated with focal therapy, which uses ultrasound waves to destroy cancer cells.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among men in the U.K. There are about 55,000 new cases each year. The risk for Black men is higher, and the PSA test can lead to overdiagnosis in Black men, a study said, but researchers are working on ways to make the test more accurate. Men over 50 can request a PSA test in the U.K.
“I don’t particularly like discussing my personal, intimate health issues, but I feel I ought to,” Cameron told the Times. “Let’s be honest. Men are not very good at talking about their health. We tend to put things off. I sort of thought, ‘well, this has happened to you, and you should lend your voice to it.’ I would feel bad if I didn’t come forward and say that I’ve had this experience.”
Cameron was the Conservative Party prime minister from 2010 to 2016. He was also foreign secretary under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from 2022-2024.
