Brain Cancer

BBC ONE West and BBC NEWS reported on a new rapid genomic test for brain tumours that the NHS described as a major advance for patients. The test is intended to provide an accurate diagnosis in about two hours while surgery is under way, compared with the six to eight weeks that a definitive diagnosis can currently take after surgery. Surgeons can use the result to tailor the operation, and patients may avoid weeks of uncertainty. The coverage followed Steve Palmer, a 55-year-old patient having surgery at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre. More than 12,000 people a year in the UK are diagnosed with a brain tumour, and there are around 150 different types, according to the reports. The test was developed by scientists at the University of Nottingham with hospital clinicians, and tissue samples are processed in pathology labs using an ultra-rapid sequencing machine that reveals the tumour's genetic fingerprint. In Mr Palmer's case, the diagnosis was glioblastoma, a grade four tumour. Reports said his diagnosis and treatment plan could be returned within days rather than weeks, allowing chemotherapy and radiotherapy to start sooner. Four neurosurgery units in London, Birmingham and Newcastle were also piloting the rapid genomic tests, with other hospitals to follow, according to the coverage. BBC ONE West also reported that the full genetic profile could open the door to clinical trials and that a lead surgeon said curable tumours might be treated more radically to remove as much as possible, while balancing the risk to healthy tissue.

This is a cross-channel consensus summary, not an objective account. Consensus can be uniformly wrong, or omit what only one channel covered.