A man has seen his deadly brain tumor halve thanks to a new radioactive therapy, which experts hope will eradicate the disease.
Doctors at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) are conducting a clinical trial to treat glioblastoma.
About 3,200 people are diagnosed with this disease each year, which is the most common type of brain tumor in adults.
It kills most patients within 18 months and only 5 percent live five years.
The researchers’ goal is to cure the disease by injecting low levels of radioactivity directly into the tumor to kill cancer cells.
Paul Read has seen his deadly brain tumor halve thanks to a new radioactive therapy, which experts hope will eradicate the disease. Here Mr Read is pictured with his wife Pauline.
The 62-year-old engineer from Luton is the first patient to take part in the trial and has seen his tumor halve in a matter of weeks. For the procedure, surgeons removed as much of the tumor as possible before implanting a small medical device called an Ommaya reservoir under the scalp, which connects to the tumor through a small tube.
Paul Read, a 62-year-old engineer from Luton, is the first patient to take part in the trial and has seen his tumor halve in a matter of weeks.
A second patient has also just started therapy.
For the procedure, surgeons removed as much of the tumor as possible before implanting a small medical device called an Ommaya reservoir under the scalp, which connects to the tumor through a small tube.
The UCLH nuclear medicine team then injects a drug (ATT001, a PARP inhibitor labeled with iodine-123) directly into the tumour, releasing small amounts of radioactivity.
The drug, which is administered weekly for four to six weeks, is very potent over short distances and causes lethal damage to tumor cells without affecting healthy tissue.
Read, who suffers from recurrent glioblastoma, first noticed a very bad headache last December that wouldn’t go away.
After being diagnosed and undergoing surgery two days after Christmas to remove as much of the tumor as possible, Mr Read underwent follow-up treatments with radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
But doctors told him in July that his tumor was growing again.
Mr Read was then offered a place on the new CITADEL-123 trial at UCLH, having previously agreed to participate in the clinical research.
He said: “I was expecting the tumor to come back due to its aggressive nature. “I know the outcome is not very good and I was happy to explore anything else.
‘This trial was a lifesaver as the probability of survival according to the data was one year or less for me.
‘I am delighted to have the opportunity to take part in this trial and have not experienced any side effects from the injections.
‘Possibly a little more tired, but overall I feel very good.
“I’m not afraid of any of this. We are all dealt a hand of cards and you don’t know which ones you are going to get.
‘It will be wonderful if this treatment helps me and if not, it doesn’t help me. I am more than happy; Even if it doesn’t benefit me, it may benefit someone else in the future.
“So I have nothing to lose and everything to look forward to.”
UCLH consultant medical oncologist Dr Paul Mulholland, who designed the trial, said: “We have to aim to cure this disease.” There are reasons we can cure it because this disease occurs in the same place in the brain.
«Primary brain tumors do not metastasize throughout the body and generally remain in the same place in the brain.
“It doesn’t spread to the rest of the body, so it makes sense to use an approach aimed directly at the tumor.”