Author, Fergus Walsh
Place of work, BBC Medical Editor
Published 3 minutes ago
Reading time: 3 min
This is an adapted translation of the BBC material in English. The original can be read here
The UK National Health Service (NHS) is starting a pilot project that will reduce the wait for an accurate diagnosis of brain tumors by tens of times - from two months to two hours. This will allow patients to begin treatment faster and eliminate weeks of uncertainty.
More than 12,000 cases of primary brain tumors are diagnosed every year in the UK. It is the most common cause of cancer death among children and adults under 40 years of age.
There are about 150 different types of brain tumors, ranging from slow-growing to aggressive cancers, and each can respond differently to treatment.
Steve Palmer, 55, from Nottingham, was diagnosed after collapsing in the gym. And he is one of those who took advantage of the new technology: thanks to it, surgeons were able to obtain analysis results even during the operation to remove the tumor; the test showed that it was grade 4 glioblastoma.
"Thanks to such a quick diagnosis, I was spared several weeks of anxiety," he told the BBC. “It’s not what I wanted to hear, but an accurate diagnosis means I can move on to the next stage of treatment and recovery and continue to fight what will take fighting.”
To specialist neurosurgeon Stuart Smith, who led Steve's operation at Queens Medical Center in Nottingham, the test seems "almost magical".
“Diagnosis of brain tumors is based on molecular and genetic testing, but full results can take six to eight weeks. But here this is done right during the operation,” he explains.
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Determining the type of tumor while the patient is still on the operating table can influence surgeons' tactics. Smith explained: “For some types of tumors that are treatable, the surgery must be as radical as possible to remove all of the detected areas of the tumor.”
“Other types are unfortunately too aggressive and go beyond what can be removed surgically, so we will proceed more carefully to reduce the risk of brain damage.”
The test works like this: Small samples of tissue taken from the tumor are sent to a pathology laboratory. There they are put into Oxford Nanopore's sequencing machine, which uses specialized software developed at the University of Nottingham in collaboration with hospital doctors.
The machine, about the size of a shoebox, passes DNA molecules through a nanopore—a tiny hole—to reveal a tumor's unique genomic profile.
In Steve Palmer's case, after the nanopore machine had been running for 20 minutes, a team of neurologists called the operating room to report that the tumor was most likely glioblastoma.
Dr Simon Payne, a specialist neuropathologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the genomic test was a breakthrough from what he could detect by looking at tumor cells under a microscope.
“What I do every day is essentially prediction, and on a good day I can do it pretty well, but it in no way compares to the clarity of a nanopore analyzer, which gives a comprehensive molecular classification,” he said.
Professor Frankie Swords, NHS medical director, said: “For people with a suspected brain tumour, getting a quick diagnosis can be a race to death, and waiting weeks for results can be agonizing for them and their loved ones.”
“This is a huge step forward for patients - faster diagnosis means they can start the right treatment or take part in clinical trials sooner, and for some patients it could mean surgeons can make potentially life-saving decisions about surgery right on the operating table.”
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she called the pilot a "world premiere" and noted that no other health system is rolling out the technology across multiple hospitals at once.
The pilot project builds on earlier developments already in use in Nottingham and Birmingham. Now they will be connected to five specialized centers in the largest cities in England.
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