Brain Research World : news, reports & press releases
BBC Online Health 16 Dec 2011A radical technique which involves drilling an
electrode into the brain is being used to treat patients plagued by
excruciating headaches.
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London says deep brain stimulation is proving highly successful in helping reduce the frequency of so-called "cluster headaches."
This is a condition in which patients get horrendous headaches on one side of the head. They can get up to eight a day lasting from 15 minutes to three hours.
Dr Manjit Matharu, a consultant neurologist said the pain is terrible."We have asked female patients to describe the pain and every one who has given birth has said childbirth is just a fraction of the pain compared to cluster headaches."
Deep brain stimulation involves drilling into the top of the skull. A titanium alloy electrode is inserted into the posterior hypothalamus which is overactive during the headaches.The electrode is linked by a wire to a pacemaker under the skin of the chest. When the stimulator is switched on, it sends a tiny electric current into the brain. The aim is to block the damaging signals which trigger the headaches - rather like blocking a radio frequency.
About 80 patients worldwide have had deep brain stimulation for cluster headaches. About six in ten have experienced significant improvement. Barrie Wilson, aged 67, is one of five patients with cluster headaches to be treated at the hospital, in Queen Square, Bloomsbury.
He has had the condition for 14 years and like other sufferers, has no idea why the headaches started."It is like someone getting a red hot poker and pushing it into your eye and wiggling it about. You get no warning, no aura, it just comes on like that. You can't stand still, sit down or go to bed, nothing helps - it is like being tortured." he said.
But all that has now changed. It is nearly four months since his operation and in that time Mr Wilson has had just one headache, instead of the daily barrage. He says he feels liberated. "It is a weight off my shoulders - amazing. It is just an utter relief and a weight off my shoulders." Mr Wilson says he and his wife are hopeful that they can now plan their future free of the horrendous headaches which used to dominate their routine.
Deep brain stimulation has been used for many years for the
treatment of Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. But now
it is also being used for other conditions.
Ludvic Zrinzo, the neurosurgeon who operated on Mr Wilson said: "It is also being used for chronic pain, for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette's Syndrome. We are starting to understand a little more about what goes wrong, not only in neurological conditions, by neuropsychiatric ones, and how surgery can help when medication cannot." The treatment for cluster headaches costs about £25-30,000 but Mr Zrinzo says that must be compared with the terrible suffering that patients experience.
NICE has not yet published guidance on the safety and
efficacy of this procedure for cluster headaches, but the National
Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery is hoping to conduct a wider
trial which would fully illustrate its benefits.
Glowing brain tumour trial begins
The tumour glows under UV light
The idea of making brain cancers glow to help surgeons operate is being tested in the UK. Patients will be given a drug, 5-amino-levulinic acid (5-ALA), which causes a build-up of fluorescent chemicals in the tumour.The theory is that the pink glow will clearly mark the edges of the tumour, making it easier to ensure all of it is removed.
There is no room for error. More
than 60 patients with glioblastoma will take part in the trial.They have
cancerous glial cells, which normally hold the
brain's nerves cells in place. On average patients survive 15 months
after being diagnosed.
In brain surgery, there is no room for error. In some cancers, such as those of the colon, some of the surrounding tissue can be removed as well as the tumour. Removing a brain tumour needs to be more precise.Treating brain tumours is a real challenge facing clinicians and we urgently need new treatments” says Kate Law, Cancer Research UK
Glasgow gets first national brain tumour tissue bank
20/09/2011 BBC Online Science
The bank will provide access to samples of brain tumours for anyone conducting research - with the aim of helping scientists find new treatments.
31/08/2011 BBC Online Health
Researchers in Germany have developed a microchip sensor that can be implanted close to a tumour to monitor its growth
The device tracks oxygen levels in nearby tissue to detect if a tumour is expanding. Results are then transmitted wirelessly to a patient's doctor - reducing the need for frequent hospital scans. Future designs will include a medication pump that can deliver drugs directly to the affected area. Researchers hope this will lead to less aggressive and more targeted cancer treatments.
Medical engineers at the Technical University in Munich developed the device as a way to track and treat tumours that are difficult to reach, or better left alone."There are some tumours which are hard to remove - for example, close to the spine. You run the risk of cutting the nerve if you remove them surgically. Or the problem may be that the tumour is growing slowly, but the patient is elderly," said project manager Sven Becker. "In these cases it's better to monitor the tumour, and only treat it if there's a strong growth phase."
The sensor is implanted next to a tumour, and measures the concentration of dissolved oxygen in nearby tissue fluid. If this drops it can indicate aggressive growth, and doctors can be alerted.
"The microelectronic chip has a set of electrodes that detect oxygen saturation. It transmits this sensor data to an external receiving unit that's like a small box you carry around in your pocket," explained Mr Becker. "From there it goes into the doctor's PC - and they can look at the data and decide whether the tumour activity is getting worse." Researchers believe this will reduce the need for frequent hospital check-ups. "Normally you would have to go to the hospital to be monitored - using machines like MRI to detect the oxygen saturation. With our system you can do it on the go," said Mr Becker.
Drug Pump - The team plans to add a medication pump to the chip that can
release chemotherapeutic drugs close to a tumour if treatment is needed. Mr Becker hopes this will prove more effective and less toxic for future cancer patients. Patients can be treated more quickly and with less side effects, because it's local” "In traditional chemotherapy you
put drugs into the whole body - which can have awful side effects. We
want to add a pump to our chip, so if the sensor detects growth, you can
apply microscopic amounts directly to the tumour," "Patients can be treated more quickly and with less side effects, because it's local." Sven Becker, Technical University Munich
Development is still in its early stages, but researchers hope to have a device ready for medical use within ten years.
CANCER RESEARCH UK Meningioma!
"Genetic link to rare brain tumour discovered"
CRUK Press Release Sun 31 July 2011
Cancer Research UK funded scientists have conducted the first whole-genome scan of the brain tumour meningioma and revealed a genetic region that increases the risk of developing the disease, according to research published in Nature Genetics* today (Sunday).
Professor Richard Houlston from The Institute of Cancer Research led the major international collaboration comparing the DNA of 1,633 meningioma patients and 2,464 healthy controls, using a technique known as a genome-wide association study.
Relatives of people with meningiomas are three times more likely to develop the disease but little is known about what increases their risk. A small proportion of meningiomas are linked to four rare genetic diseases called neurofibromatiosis type-2, Coden, Werner and Gorlin symdromes.
Professor Houlston said: “We knew that people with certain rare inherited diseases are more likely to develop meningiomas. Although these inherited diseases significantly increase the chance of getting this type of brain cancer, they are so rare that they account for a very small proportion of the increased risk among relatives of people with meningiomas. Our study begins to shed light on the biggest part of the inherited risk.
“The genetic region we’ve found is very closely linked with two genes called AF10 and MLLT10, which we know are involved in the development of leukaemia. We can’t say at this stage whether the diseases are linked or even if the two genetic regions interact, but we’ll be looking at this in our follow up studies.”
More than 4,500 people are diagnosed with malignant brain tumours in the UK each year. Meningiomas account for around a quarter of these, but little is known about the cause of the disease, which tends to mostly affect older people and women.
The tumours tend to grow slowly in the tissues of the brain or spinal cord and as a result do not respond well to chemotherapy and cannot always be safely removed by surgery.
Dr Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Brain tumours are usually more difficult to treat because of the sensitive position of the tumour. As a result of this, survival rates have remained quite low.
“Studies like this are important in helping us understand more about
the way brain tumours develop and this research has already given
scientists another lead to follow to learn more about the disease.” END
BRAIN TUMOURS: BIGGEST CANCER THREAT TO
YOUNG PEOPLE BRAIN TUMOUR RESEARCH report pub 2009
More men under the age of 45 and women under 35 now die from a brain tumour in the UK than any other cancer reveals Brain Tumour Research in a report published today (1). Latest figures show that overall mortality rates from cancer are decreasing despite increasing incidence; however for brain tumour patients, survival rates are getting worse. Brain tumours cannot be prevented as their cause is unknown. Research for brain tumours is desperately underfunded and has been ‘forgotten’ by major cancer research funders, including the government, despite significantly affecting young people in the UK. Brain Tumour Research and leading medical experts warn that the situation will get worse unless the inequality of research funding and profile is addressed urgently.
The report shows:
o While the five-year survival rates for many cancers is over 50% and rising to over 90% for some cancers, for brain tumours, the five year survival rate for men is 14.1% and women is now only 13.8%
o In 2008, 58% more women died from a brain tumour than from cervical cancer
o Brain tumours have overtaken leukaemia as the biggest cancer killer of children in the UK. The number of children dying from a brain tumour in 2007 was 33% higher than in 2001; child deaths from leukaemia were 39% lower than in 2001
o In 2008, 85% more people under the age of 65 died from a brain tumour than from leukaemia
o 20% of all cancers now spread to the brain
o Brain tumour research receives less than 1% (0.7%) of cancer research spending in the UK. Leukaemia research receives over £29 million (6.7%), almost 90% more research funding than for brain tumours.
o Funding for cancer research has directly led to improvements in survival rates for most cancers including breast cancer and leukaemia
o The amount the government has spent on cancer research related to brain tumours in 2007-8 is half the ‘official’ figure of £970,000
Today a new research laboratory will be opened at Charing Cross Hospital, which has been entirely funded by individual donations to the Brain Tumour Research Campaign, a founding member charity of Brain Tumour Research. The John Fulcher Molecular Neuro-oncology Laboratory hopes to create a research programme to develop more effective treatment for brain tumours (2).
Wendy Fulcher, Chairman of Brain Tumour Research said:
“The opening of the laboratory is an important first step, but is just a drop in the ocean of what is needed. The government and major cancer research donors must increase the proportion it spends on research or the shocking statistics will only get worse.”
Mr Kevin O’Neill, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London said:
“Brain tumours can afflict anyone of us, increasingly the younger section of the population which has led to brain tumours causing the biggest reduction in expected lifespan than any other cancer. They can’t be prevented or screened for as we don’t know the cause. It is frustrating that treatment options are so limited. More research is desperately needed, but we are struggling to get funds.”
Professor Geoff Pilkington, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Neuro-oncology, University of Portsmouth said:
“Funding for brain tumour research significantly lags behind other cancers and clinical understanding of these cancers does not readily translate to brain tumours. The situation is improving for so many cancer sufferers but brain tumour patients are being left behind.”
Dr Colin Watts, Clinical Scientist and Hon Consultant Neurosurgeon, Cambridge University said:
“The clinical and economic burden of brain tumours is poorly recognised. The picture revealed by Brain Tumour Research reveals just how bad the situation is. There is a lack of resources at all levels of patient care and research pathways. We are failing patients with brain tumours and people are dying. More needs to be done.”
End