Swedish prostate cancer test to be introduced in Europe

A new test to improve prostate cancer diagnosis is to be tried out in clinics in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, according to a press release from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet on Thursday.

Stockholm3 is a blood test that is thought by researchers to be more effective in detecting aggressive prostate cancer, while at the same time reducing the number of unnecessary biopsies by 50 percent compared to the current clinical practice. It was introduced to the Swedish health care system in December 2016.

The Stockholm3 test is based on research conducted at Karolinska Institutet. In a clinal study, researchers tested 60,000 men between the ages of 50 and 70 years old. The results have been published in numerous scientific journals.

EIT Health, supported by the EU body European Innovation and Technology (EIT), is providing the financing for the clinical validation of the Stockholm3 test.