Gabby Logan has raised a question with a leading surgeon about prostate cancer recurrence, following her husband Kenny Logan's battle with the disease. The former rugby star was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022 after undergoing a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test, despite showing no concerning symptoms.
The test revealed that the 54-year-old's PSA levels were higher than normal, prompting further investigations. Following his diagnosis, Kenny underwent surgery to remove his prostate and was given the all-clear in February 2023.
Having since learned more about prostate cancer – the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the UK – Gabby said she was surprised to discover that the disease can return, in some circumstances, even after the prostate has been removed.
Speaking to Professor Vaibhav Modgil, a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary and one of the UK's leading experts in Andrology, she said: "I think this is the thing that people find difficult to understand, if you've had your prostate removed, how you can get a recurrence of prostate cancer?"
"And that is, you know, I know from Kenny's experience, every six months, he's got one coming up, he has to do [blood tests]. I'm like how? Because if you haven't got a prostate, how are you going to get prostate cancer?"
"I try and think of it in women's terms, so women who know they've got the BRCA gene and have a double mastectomy, so [it significantly reduces the risk of] breast cancer, but it's not the same thing," she added on her The Midpoint podcast.
In response, the professor explained: "No, it is and it isn't, I'm not a cancer pathologist or a cancer specialist, but the entire idea of surveying people in terms of doing blood tests, scans, etc also hinges very closely on the kind of disease they had in the first place."
"Not all prostate cancers are the same, so if you've got a localised prostate cancer and it's been definitively treated with surgical margins and negative, and depending on the initial grade of your prostate cancer, you're likelihood of recurrence might be drastically different to an individual who, for example, had a high grade prostate cancer, but none the less they all require surveillance," he added.
The specialist went on to say that it is not a case of "one size fits all". According to Prostate Cancer UK, recurrent prostate cancer is when cancer returns after treatment that was intended to cure it. It is sometimes referred to as prostate cancer recurrence or prostate cancer relapse.
Treatments that may have been used include: Surgery (radical prostatectomy), External beam radiotherapy (EBRT), Permanent seed brachytherapy, High dose-rate brachytherapy, High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and Cryotherapy.
Prostate cancer can return despite the gland being removed usually due to one of two reasons – microscopic cancer cells were left behind after the surgery and may have remained in the tissue immediately surrounding the "prostate bed". Or, the cancer cells spread further than the prostate prior to its removal.
The charity explains that while these treatments are designed to eliminate prostate cancer, in some cases not all cancer cells are successfully treated, or the disease may have been more advanced than initially thought.
If prostate cancer does return, the first sign is likely to be a rise in PSA levels rather than the appearance of symptoms. However, patients are advised to contact their doctor or specialist nurse if they experience any new symptoms or side effects, or if they are concerned that their cancer may have returned.
