A three-minute test for prostate cancer is being developed by scientists.

科学家正在研究三分钟前列腺癌快速检测。

Prostate cancer kills 10,000 men in the UK each year

The test works by shining a light through a fluid sample to determine levels of a molecule¹（分子） called citrate（柠檬酸盐）, which dip in cancer's early stages.

At present the test needs to be carried out on a sample of prostate（前列腺） fluid taken with a needle under local anaesthetic（麻醉剂）.

A University of Durham team say early results have been highly promising² and hope eventually to be able to use a sample of semen（精液） for the test.

It could mean that patients do not have to endure a two-week wait for test results following a biopsy（活组织检查）.

And it offers hope of a replacement³ for the unreliable PSA blood test.

This is currently used to give a preliminary diagnosis⁴, but often throws up inaccurate⁵ results, leading to unnecessary treatment, which can cause side effects, such as incontinence（无节制，失禁） and impotence（无能）.

Initial（开始的，最初的） results of the new test have been highly promising, but work is still at a relatively⁶ early stage.

The researchers now plan to assess the test on samples taken from prostate cancer patients from a local hospital.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK.

Each year about 34,000 men are diagnosed with the disease, and about 10,000 die from it.

Diluted⁷（冲淡，稀释） samples

The new test, developed in collaboration⁸ with（与……合作） the University of Maryland, picks up changes in the wavelength⁹ of light as it is shone through diluted samples of prostate fluid.

This can be used to measure levels of citrate molecules¹⁰ in the sample, which drop significantly during the early stages of prostate cancer.

In theory, a rapid result could allow doctors to begin treatment quickly, when it has most chance of working.

If semen - rather than prostate fluid - could be used this would make the test much more user-friendly, and potentially much more useful.

The Durham team hopes the test could also eventually be used to diagnose other medical conditions associated with poor kidney function.

Lead researcher Professor David Parker said: "It's been a complex process to develop the technique but we're very optimistic about it.

"Ultimately, this could provide an accurate method of screening for prostate cancer in men that could be carried out in three minutes once a biopsy has been obtained from the patient at a hospital outpatient（门诊病人） department."

Work required

However, the researchers still have to ensure that the test is accurate over a much larger number of samples.

The Prostate Cancer Charity chief executive John Neate stressed the work was an early stage.

He said faster results would be welcome, but said a biopsy would still be needed to give a definitive¹¹ diagnosis and to determine whether or not a tumour¹²（肿瘤） was aggressive.

"This new test, which involves the insertion（插入，刊载） of a needle into the prostate under local anaesthetic, is an invasive（侵入的） procedure," he said.

"The researchers hope to able to refine the test by using samples of seminal¹³ fluid which may be easier to obtain. If this was the case, it would be easier to see how this test could take a useful place in clinical practice."