More awareness and earlier diagnosis of brain cancer needed

Mar 23 2010

One of the UK’s largest surveys of brain cancer sufferers and carers, conducted by the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust (http://www.braintumourtrust.co.uk), suggests that GPs and the general public need better guidance on spotting the key symptoms to aid earlier diagnosis and improve survival.

“We urgently need to improve the understanding of brain cancer and its signs and symptoms and get people to understand that it does happen and the incidence is growing.”

Released to coincide with March’s Brain Tumour Awareness month, the survey shows one in four patients had to consult their GP four times and over before they were referred to a specialist, with nearly one in ten consulting their doctor more than eight times. Over 30 per cent said they waited over four months before receiving a diagnosis. Research has shown that it can take three times as long to diagnose a brain tumour in the UK than in other countries.

It is not only GPs that are missing the ‘red flag’ symptoms of brain cancer. The survey also showed that 67 per cent of those diagnosed with a brain tumour had not been aware of the typical symptoms and therefore did not push for further investigation.

Paul Carbury, CEO of the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust said: “These results confirm what Brain Tumour Awareness month is all about – we still need to educate the public and the primary health care professionals about this devastating illness and make them aware of the recurring warning signs. Our funding has helped produce national guidelines to enable GPs to spot the early warning signs of brain cancer and we hope that this will make a significant difference in improving quality of life, survival rates and reducing the burden of disability“

He added: “We urgently need to improve the understanding of brain cancer and its signs and symptoms and get people to understand that it does happen and the incidence is growing.”

This year approximately 6,500 people in the UK will be diagnosed with a primary brain tumour and 3,400 will lose their lives to one. Despite being the biggest childhood cancer killer and causing more deaths in the under 40s than any other cancer, it receives a fraction of the funding of higher profile cancers. Statistics also show that higher profile cancers have received up to 20 times the investment and have seen survival rates almost double in 30 years.

Kerry Bubb, whose daughter, Molly, died from a brain tumour aged 4, said: ‘There is still so much ignorance around this disease. We were repeatedly told by the medical profession that my daughter was suffering from a virus and told to treat her with paracetemol. She was, in fact, in the advanced stages of cancer and this was only established after we fought to get her scanned. With an earlier diagnosis, she would have lived her final few weeks with dignity, and not in the pain that we had to watch her endure.”

The charity is working with health professionals and organisations to raise awareness of brain cancer and later this year will be supporting a groundbreaking national project that will encourage early diagnosis of childhood brain cancer.