Doctors are now diagnosing brain tumours in children faster than ever before.
Dr Sophie Wilne of Nottingham Children’s Hospital, UK, and colleagues examined the latest diagnosis times. They found that the average duration from first contact to diagnosis of a brain tumour in a child in the UK has fallen to 6.9 weeks from 7.5 weeks in 2012. In 2011 the average duration was 9.1 weeks.
Much of this progress is thought to be due to a national awareness campaign – the HeadSmart: Be Brain Tumour Aware – launched by experts at Nottingham University in 2011. Its aim is to cut the average duration until diagnosis to five weeks.
Dr Wilne says: "Brain tumours in children can be very difficult to diagnose for two reasons. The initial symptoms are often non-specific and can occur with other more common and less serious childhood illnesses. There is also lack of awareness among healthcare professionals that brain tumours do occur in children.
"Most childhood brain tumours are curable and we know that if we reduce the time taken to diagnosis we will reduce the likelihood of a child suffering from long-term, life-altering disability."
She adds that these figures are encouraging, "but highlight the need for further education about the symptoms caused by brain tumours to be available to both parents and health professionals".
Professor David Walker of Nottingham University commented that his colleagues at children brain tumour centres across the UK and Ireland "have played key roles in sharing the campaign messages with local health services".
Sarah Lindsell of the Brain Tumour Charity describes these results as "phenomenal". But she says: "It’s vital that we do not rest on our success so far and continue to work to further reduce the time it takes for tumours to be diagnosed."
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