Most people don't survive brain cancer. Researchers hope to change that

Simran Singh was just 12 years old when excruciating headaches led to her first brain tumour diagnosis.

"I had a brain surgery and experienced six months of remission," she said. 

She was also diagnosed with vertigo and epilepsy and began having yearly MRI scans to monitor the tumour.

But at age 17 while in year 12, the tumour had returned and spread.

Doctors discovered a brain tumour called a neurocytoma, a rare type of brain tumour.

"It was right in the middle of my brain," she said.

"There were different tumours sitting on different parts of my brain."

Australian doctors suggested proton beam therapy, but it was not available in the country and Ms Singh had to travel to Florida, United States, for treatment.

She described the experience as an incredibly difficult time for her and her family.

"I had to repeat year 12," she said.

Today, the science undergraduate is observing the work of an Adelaide-based research team investigating a treatment she once endured.

Researchers want to make radiation better at killing cancer cells, while protecting healthy tissue.

Their project will also look at how radiation affects the immune system.

The Adelaide researchers received $240,000 — the first team to be allocated funding under a new national initiative from the Mark Hughes Foundation Centre for Brain Cancer Research to fast track new approaches to brain cancer and brain tumour treatment.

Improving brain cancer survival rates

Adelaide University biophysics professor Ivan Kempson said survival rates for brain cancer have shifted slowly in the past few decades.

"For families affected by brain cancer, advances are urgently needed," Professor Kempson said.

"The outcomes are very poor, and survival rates have changed little in the past 35 years, with only two in 10 patients surviving beyond five years.

"It kills more children than any other disease and more people under 40 than any other cancer."

Professor Kempson said the research would largely look at how radiation interacts at a microscopic level with cancer cells and normal cells.

"What we want to achieve is that patients can get better outcomes in terms of better survival rate … and also improve the quality of life beyond treatment," he said.

While radiotherapy has advanced significantly over the decades, Professor Kempson said that brain cancer has unfortunately not responded as well as other malignancies.

"We haven't seen the improvement in brain cancer treatment," he said.

"With looking at the molecular microscopic view, we think we can start to piece together the fundamental information that we need to lead to the next breakthroughs in how brain cancer is treated."

Specialised tools are being used in the project to allow researchers to measure radiation damage to DNA with a level of precision that has not previously been possible, according to Adelaide University.