Restaurant critic Giles Coren reveals he has prostate cancer
Giles Coren, the restaurant critic, has revealed that he has prostate cancer.
The former BBC presenter, 55, said he was diagnosed on Wednesday with a malign tumour.
Mr Coren wrote in The Times that he was first tested for the cancer after Sir Stephen Fry and Bill Turnbull, the late television and radio presenter, announced they had the disease.
When he first took a PSA test, which measures the amount of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in a person's blood, he received a score of four – anything more than three is deemed abnormal for a man.
However, he refused a biopsy after an MRI scan result was inconclusive.
It was only after his PSA score increased to six and then seven that he agreed to have a biopsy at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Mr Coren, who has appeared in BBC shows including Supersize Me, Our Food, and Amazing Hotels, said doctors found less than 1mm of cancer in three of the 21 samples taken.
His 'malign tumour' did not require treatment at present but would be monitored for growth, he added.
Mr Coren wrote: 'How about this for a piece of couldn't-make-it-up professional timing: in the very week that it was announced on the front page of The Times that prostate cancer is now the commonest cancer in England … I have been diagnosed with it!'
NHS data revealed this week that prostate cancer was now the most common in England after a 25 per cent rise in cases over the past five years.
A record 55,000 men were diagnosed with it in 2023, up from 44,000 in 2019, according to Prostate Cancer UK analysis.
Men over the age of 50 – or 45 if they are black – can ask their GP for a PSA test but GPs are not allowed to offer them to anyone without symptoms, leading to thousands of late diagnoses.
Sir Chris Hoy revealed in October that he has 'two to four years' left to live after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.
Earlier this month, a breakthrough in prostate cancer treatment saw a drug shrink tumours in advanced disease.
The experimental medicine, also being trialled for ovarian disease, could help men who are no longer responding to treatment.
Experts hailed the discovery as an 'exciting step' towards tackling treatment resistance for patients with the disease.
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