Did you realise that, on average, multi-disciplinary neuro-oncology teams across the UK spend around 50% of their time helping patients with brain metastases?
Brain Tumour Research was delighted to co-sponsor this workshop in collaboration with Breast Cancer Now and Daiichi-Sankyo. Organised by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) and Chaired by Mr Michael Jenkinson, Consultant Neurosurgeon at The Walton Centre. The workshop bought together leading clinicians and researchers from the worlds of brain tumours, breast cancer, lung cancer and melanoma (skin cancer), all determined to pool their expertise in order to help find a cure for brain tumours.
The morning saw a series of presentations covering the current status of treatments for brain metastases as well as treatments for primary tumour sites, whilst the afternoon consisted of breakout sessions to draft new clinical trials and action points to bring us closer to a cure.
Throughout the day, discussions ranged from the challenges of designing new combination trials through to how to help patients who have lost their driving licence. We talked about the number of clinical trials, how to increase them and what form they should take, as well as how to open those trials more quickly to more patients and enable them to participate.
There were constructive conversations about issues such as access to new treatments and standards of care, as well as barriers to research and how to overcome them. This opportunity for cross-disciplinary collaboration builds strong foundations for the future and we left buzzing with new ideas, new contacts made, plans to work on and much hope for the future.