Robert Fieldhouse
Dr Nathan, Nicky Hickey, Rob Startin is over 80 to 90 per cent. But if the cancer has spread, the five-year survival is 20 per cent.” “The existing data on what proportion of patients with high-grade anal pre-cancer will go on to develop cancer is scant; a total of 166 patients with high-grade anal pre-cancer in 4 different studies were followed over five years and roughly ten per cent developed cancer in that period, “ says Dr. Nathan.
“Laser treatment hurts but it works.“ So should gay men living with HIV be regularly screened for it? “There are a number of possible screening mechanisms available. The problem with any screening is that if you were to screen people you have to offer something afterwards. There is no point in screening people and put the fright of God in their heads and send them out to be stressed out if you don’t actually offer anything to intervene. At the moment there is no proven treatment that can substantiate clearance of precancer and thereby avoid cancer. We have got some interventions but they need to be properly tested in the future. Hickey’s view on screening gay men with HIV is forthright; “Women have it, so why can’t men who
are at the greatest risk have it? “ “I think it is very important that people get informed of where they can go to get treatment, where they can get a pap smear, learn who is using lasers.” Rob Startin, Nicky Hickey and Dr. Nathan along with Chelsea and Westminster’s Dr. Paul Fox have recently set up a new charity, AINUK, to raise awareness and provide information about anal pre-cancer. Campaigning and providing information and support are the central focuses of the new charity; “What we could do right now is to have a campaign that all HIV positive gay men should be digitally examined once a year by their GP or at their HIV clinic. That way if there is any early cancer it can be picked up. Until we have an earlier way of diagnosing it, this is a cheap and easy approach.” Startin tells me, “I set up the charity after discussions with Dr. Nathan whilst being treated. The main thing that really annoyed me was that nobody had any answers. They always responded, “We need to do a trial on this we need to do a trial on that.” Why aren’t we doing the trials? Simply, because the money is not there. Well why is the money not there? People just don’t seem to give a damn really.” I then talked to a lot of my friends who had been going through a lot of the same things I had; www.baseline-hiv.co.uk 17