BRISTOL is fast becoming a centre of excellence for research into prostate cancer.

Experts in the disease are working on several projects in the city to help diagnose and treat the most common form of cancer in men.

In collaboration with the University of the West of England, researchers from the Bristol Urological Institute (BUI) are looking at the effectiveness of testing men's urine as an early indicator of prostate cancer.

If they are successful it could lead to the introduction of a national screening programme.

Currently the only indicator of prostate cancer is a blood test, which can highlight the need for more investigations but does not diagnose the disease itself.

Researchers at the BUI are also working on a test to distinguish between aggressive forms of the disease and cases that are not likely to cause harm.

In his annual report published (March 2009), the chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson called for better efforts to identify the type of prostate cancer.

He said making a distinction between the two could prevent unnecessary treatment.

Surgeon and director of the BUI, David Gillatt, said they were looking at a combination of biopsies and genetic testing to see if there was a way of detecting how aggressive a cancer is.

He said: "One of the biggest challenges we face in prostate cancer is determining if the cancer is aggressive.

"We can vary treatment towards the cancer depending on how aggressive it is and are trying to pick out the small percentage of people that need treatment at the appropriate time.

"There is a group of people who could be more appropriately managed by monitoring. It will not be a case of doing nothing, but an active process of checking on patients."

Mr Gillatt said that the BUI is developing links with other researchers in Bristol and further afield including the US.

He said: "There are quite a lot of people doing research on prostate cancer in Bristol and we are looking to work together in a single direction to make Bristol a centre of excellence for prostate cancer research."