X-ZELL CEO to present at Asia-Pacific Prostate Cancer Conference

Brisbane, July 2018 – X-ZELL CEO, Dr Sebastian Bhakdi, will use the upcoming Asia-Pacific Prostate Cancer Conference (APCC) in Brisbane next month as a platform to reveal “exciting new insights” into early prostate cancer detection.

According to Dr Bhakdi, his presentation will focus on research undertaken at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand to help urologists handle patients with a diagnostically ambivalent PSA score between 4-20ng/mL more confidently.

“Over a million times every day, PSA testing results in a dangerous gamble for men’s health,” Dr Bhakdi explained, referring to the low accuracy of the long-standing, yet highly polarising assay.

“In theory PSA testing is a solid diagnostic tool. If it’s zero, you don’t have cancer. If it’s close to 100, you do. The problem is the area in between, which we like to call the diagnostic grey zone. To confirm a cancer diagnosis in this section, there is no alternative to a highly invasive multi-core biopsy of the prostate.”

He added, “These biopsies are not only painful for the patient and laden with side effects, but in more than 75 per cent of all cases, they are also negative – meaning the whole procedure was obsolete in the first place.”

To reduce that high percentage of unnecessary procedures, Dr Bhakdi and his team at Mahidol University have developed a new blood test to “substantially boost” the predictive value of the PSA assay, he explained.

Performed on X-ZELL’s patented Cryoimmunostaining™ system, the test may help urologists avoid more than 50 per cent of biopsies, Dr Bhakdi revealed. “That’s reducing the risk for men to undergo risky, invasive procedures for no reason by half.”

Dr Bhakdi will share a first-world preview of his new research – and what it could mean for clinical practice – on 23 August 2018 in Brisbane.

Media Contact:
Sebastian Grote
Head of Marketing & Communications
media@x-zell.com