Pioneering brain tumour trial at Newcastle's Great North Children's Hospital shows 'positive signs'

  • Jonny Blair reports.

A treatment for children diagnosed with some types of brain tumours, which is being pioneered in the North East, could potentially revolutionise care for them going forward.

The new treatment being trialled at the Great North Children's Hospital, part of Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, sees patients take tablets once a week to reduce the size of the tumour, rather than undergo radiotherapy, chemotherapy or surgery.

The team carrying out the trial say the drug, called tovorafenib, could reduce the potential harms caused by other treatments.

It is being trialled on those suffering from low-grade gliomas - a common type of tumour among young people.

Among those who are receiving the treatment is 19-year-old Isibel Smith, who previously had to travel from the Midlands to Newcastle for her treatment.

Isibel said she was amazed to find out the tablets had shrunk her tumour. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

She said: "All the other treatments, they've not shrunk [the tumour], they've only kept it stable. After three months of this treatment, I had a scan and it had shrunk quite a lot which was obviously quite amazing for me, because I hadn't seen it shrink.

"I don't usually bother looking at the scans, I just let the doctors get on with it and speak about it with my parents but he explained it - and you could see the difference massively."

Pixie, aged nine, has also been receiving the treatment. She says it gives her more time to do the things she loves - such as dancing and seeing her friends.

Nine-year-old Pixie from Greater Manchester has also been taking part in trial. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

She said: "It's easier because it's quicker, because I'm not having to take a needle once a week. It doesn't hurt and it's over in five minutes. When I was on the other treatment, I had to do it for the whole day and then I was bed-bound for a week"

The trial remains ongoing, but doctors say the early outlook has been very positive.

Dr Quentin Campbell Hewson, Consultant Paediatric Oncologist, said: "On the MRI scans for these tumours we look at two things predominantly.

"One is the size of the abnormal lump that's there, but also how it's interacting with blood flow and how it's inflamed. That latter thing is often more important in low-grade glioma than actual size.

"We're seeing those things across the board, in the patients that we've seen, improving. The tumours are smaller. We are often content and happy, in fact, in low-grade glioma if we can halt things. That's where we have been in many years, that it's been a success to hold things as they are. We're seeing more than that in the patients that we've looked at."

The trial aims to prove that the drug works effectively and is safe to use. It will then be compared to existing treatments, in the hope that it can one day be licensed and approved for rollout out on the NHS.

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