‘Gamechanging’ brain tumour test reduces diagnosis from eight weeks to two hours

A rapid new test for brain tumours can diagnose patients while they are still on the operating table.

Scientists have called the development “gamechanging” and said it could secure early treatment for those who “do not have time on their side”.

The test was developed by the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Nottingham and can diagnose forms of cancer while the patient is still undergoing surgery.

The NHS has begun using the diagnostic tool, which can cut waiting times for a diagnosis from up to eight weeks to two hours. It could also secure early access for clinical trials for certain patients.

Prof Frankie Swords, the NHS medical director, said the rapid test was “a huge leap forward for patients” with the “potential to completely transform how we diagnose brain tumours”.

It also means patients can start having treatment earlier, which could save lives, and also prevents uncertainty.

It is a genomic test, which means it analyses the genetic code of a sample of a tumour in a matter of hours. NHS England will be piloting the new tool in five specialist centres around the country, before rolling it out more widely.

Stuart Smith, a consultant neurosurgeon at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust and co-lead of the university’s research centre of excellence, said: “I am very proud to have been part of this exceptional team creating this rapid genomic testing, which will save valuable waiting time for patients who potentially are being told they don’t have time on their side.

“The ability to have detailed information about the tumour at the point when decisions are being made in the operating theatre is gamechanging.”

Rather than looking down a microscope at a tumour, the test allows doctors to get faster and more accurate results. Small tissue samples are sent from the tumour to a pathology lab, where they are put into a shoebox-sized sequencing machine made by Oxford Nanopore. Inside, the molecules of DNA pass through a nanopore – a tiny hole – and this reveals the unique genome, which defines the type of tumour.

Primary brain tumours are the single biggest killer of children and adults under 40 in the UK.

The specialist centres where the test is first rolled out will be Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust, University hospitals Birmingham NHS foundation trust, Great Ormond Street hospital NHS foundation trust, King’s College hospital and Newcastle hospitals NHS foundation trust.

The test will then be brought to sites in Bristol, Oxford, Leeds and Manchester.