Mr Neil Dorward, Consultant Neurosurgeon and co-researcher at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery said:

"This technique provides a very practical means of detecting areas of potentially removable tumour that are not readily visible to the operating surgeon. The surgeon must use his or her experience to decide whether the area of abnormality should be resected. This has the potential to substantially improve the outcome of such operations."


Dagmar Krafft, 54, who was not involved in the study, was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013 after suffering a seizure. She said:

"I was diagnosed with brain cancer completely out of the blue. I was at an orchestral rehearsal - where I play as an amateur violinist - when I had a seizure and was rushed to hospital. The team there took really good care of me, and I had radiotherapy to reduce the tumour size which, thankfully, was successful. After the radiotherapy finished, I was kept under regular surveillance, but otherwise life was pretty much back to normal.

"But then, at a routine scan in 2019, they discovered the cancer had relapsed. It was a total shock. This was six years after my radiotherapy had finished, and so I'd thought I was safe. I had surgery last year where they removed as much of the tumour as possible, and I now have regular scans to monitor it. I think the findings about these scans are fantastic. Any new technology that can help the surgeons do their jobs can only be a good thing - and as a patient it's really encouraging to know you'll be in the safest hands possible."

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