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Brain tumour

Cancer care

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Based at Charing Cross Hospital with all your care needs in one location; we have access to the latest drug therapies and some of England’s best brain tumour survival rates.

About the service 

If you are concerned about a neurological condition and are worried it could be brain cancer, we are able to offer you the newest techniques and therapies to treat this disease.

Once you are referred to us for treatment, you will be looked after by an expert consultant-led team of neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, neurologists, specialist nurses and radiologists.

Our specialists will quickly run a series of tests to diagnose your condition. You will benefit from the latest diagnostic and imaging tools including high-tech MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and PET (position emission tomography) which will provide detailed images of your brain so that we can diagnose your condition accurately

A multidisciplinary team of experts will review your results and make recommendations for your personalised treatment plan.  With their guidance, you will be central to any decision taken about your care and our team will ensure that you are involved in your treatment plan every step of the way.

Your treatment options 

We treat a wide range of primary and secondary brain tumours. These include both benign and malignant tumours.

We treat secondary brain tumours (metastases) which have spread from another cancer to the brain or spine, and have a wide range of treatment options.

The main treatments are:

Surgery

We usually recommend surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible in an operation called a craniotomy. Our highly skilled neurosurgeons will be able to treat you using the latest state-of-the-art equipment. 

Radiotherapy

You may need radiotherapy after surgery to remove any remaining cancer cells. We can offer you the latest in radiotherapy technology including IMRT (intensity modulated radiotherapy) and cranial stereotactic radiotherapy, a highly complex radiotherapy treatment for certain types of brain tumour which targets the tumour very precisely. Read more about radiotherapy.

Chemotherapy and immunotherapy 

If it will be an effective option for you, we can also provide chemotherapy (anti-cancer drugs) as well as innovative radiotherapy and drug combinations and combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy (drugs which harness the immune system to destroy cancer cells).

Supportive care and rehabilitation 

You will have access to a range of therapy services to help you recover following surgery, as well as expert symptom management. We have facilities for in-patient rehabilitation and links with a variety of out-patient rehabilitation services which you may be able to access in your own home.

The Imperial Optune clinic

As part of our commitment to caring for patients with brain tumours, we are proud that we are the largest referring centre in the UK for patients using Optune. Access to the funding for this remains challenging, but we are committed to supporting those patients who can access the device.

In order to pool our expertise, and allow patients and carers to share their experience, we host a monthly Optune clinic. This is face-to-face, but also makes use of our video clinic infrastructure, and is open to any patient in the UK who is using Optune. It is an opportunity to discuss how Optune works and any questions or concerns patients may have while using the Optune device.

We offer a combination of the medical, specialist nurse, and device specialist input, all from one clinic.

If you are a patient who is already using Optune and would like to access the clinic please email: Sarah Lazare, oncology co-ordinator at sarah.lazare@nhs.net

If you are a patient with a brain tumour who is interested in accessing Optune, please email: imperial.private.healthcare@nhs.net

Read more about the Optune clinic

 

Research and innovation

We are proud of our track record in ground-breaking research to improve brain tumour treatments from trialling novel drugs to new surgical techniques. 

We have been instrumental in the development of the iKnife, a pioneering ‘intelligent’ knife which uses technology to tell the surgeon in real time whether tissue is cancerous or not during an operation. This helps the surgeon to remove more of the tumour without damaging healthy tissue, potentially leading to faster surgery and better cancer survival rates. 

We have also carried out research into other techniques to improve the accuracy of surgery, such as Raman spectometry which uses lasers to identify cancer cells during operations. 

Our involvement in a broad clinical trials programme means you will have access to up-to-date treatments and the best approaches to treating your cancer. 

Why choose us

  • Through our affiliation with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the centre for brain tumours at Charing Cross Hospital, you will have access to a team of highly experienced neurosurgeons.
  • We have a track record in offering pioneering treatments which have helped to improve the clinical outcome for hundreds of patients and helped us to achieve some of the best brain tumour survival rates in the country.
  • We are one of the few centres in the country which offers all of the services necessary for your care on one site.
  • We have introduced new approaches to treatment including leading-edge surgical techniques and the latest drug therapies through our close links with the world-renowned Imperial College London research institution.
  • We helped develop more advance imaging techniques so we can better tailor treatment appropriately for each patient.
  • We recruit more brain tumour patients into clinical trials than anyone else in the UK, and our involvement in research means you will have faster access to the newest treatments and an opportunity to take part in trials of new therapies where appropriate.
  • We are one of the few UK centres to routinely offer a second round of radiotherapy to people with relapsed brain tumours. In some cases we also add immunotherapy, a novel treatment which uses the human body’s natural response to fight against the cancer cells. By combining re-irradiation with immunotherapy the tumour cells are damaged by the radiation which allows the immune system to target those cells more effectively.
  • Our expert team is highly regarded and is regularly called upon to share expertise in the national and international media, including Radio 4 and the BBC2 ‘Hospital’ documentary.

About Imperial College Healthcare Private Care

We provide access to exceptional clinical care and expertise, within some of London’s most respected NHS teaching hospitals. As part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, we have strong links to research, innovation and teaching. This means we actively contribute to advancing healthcare, as well as providing evidence-based treatments and the best possible care for our patients.

All funds generated by our private care services are continually reinvested back into the Trust, to support both NHS and private clinical services. So, by choosing private care at Imperial College Healthcare, you’re making a difference to the communities we serve.