Is prostate cancer over-treated

Learning English from the News

2025-08-13

7 分钟
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(Photo via Getty Images)  ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Download a free worksheet ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ The story The charity Prostate Cancer UK, says that the UK is treating too many prostate cancer cases that are unlikely to cause harm. This is because sometimes the cancer grows very slowly. According to the charity, around one in four cases could be monitored instead of treated, allowing patients to avoid harmful side effects of treatment. The charity has criticised current guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, known as NICE. NICE says it’s reviewing this guidance. Prostate Cancer UK says that there should be a greater focus on screening, which is widespread testing, so that the illness can be spotted at an earlier stage. News headlines ‘Outdated guidance’ sees thousands at risk of prostate cancer ‘overtreatment’ LBC Swindon research raises concerns over prostate cancer treatment contradictions Greatest Hits Radio  Harmful: Thousands of men given ‘unneccesary’ prostate cancer treatment every year due to ‘wild west’ guidelines The Sun Key words and phrases outdated not useful anymore contradiction statements or facts that are opposed to each other wild west a situation with little control or regulation Next  Learn more English vocabulary from the news with our Learning English from the News archive. To learn more interesting expressions, idioms and phrases, try The English We Speak. Find a list of all our programmes.
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  • From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English from the News,

  • our podcast about the news headlines.

  • In this programme, prostate cancer being over-treated in the UK, according to a charity.

  • Hello, I'm Pippa.

  • And I'm Phil.

  • In this programme,

  • we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

  • You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode as well as a worksheet on our website,

  • bbclearningenglish.com.

  • So, let's hear more about this news story.

  • The charity Prostate Cancer UK says that the UK is treating too many prostate cancer cases that are unlikely to cause harm.

  • This is because sometimes the cancer grows very slowly.

  • According to the charity, around one in four cases could be monitored,

  • meaning doctors would check to see if the cancer was progressing instead of treating it,

  • allowing patients to avoid harmful side effects from treatment.

  • The charity has criticized current guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence,

  • known as NICE.

  • NICE says it's reviewing this guidance.

  • Prostate Cancer UK says that there should be a greater focus on screening,

  • which is widespread testing, so that the illness can be spotted at an earlier stage.