AROUND 9,000 new cases of primary brain tumours are diagnosed in the UK each year.

Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of people under 40, including children and young people yet lack of funding and research into the treatment of malignant brain tumours means survival rates are no better than they were 40 years ago.

Throughout Yorkshire and the Humber it is estimated 1,000 patients are diagnosed each year. Around 50 of these will be children.

It is a devastating disease but it is hoped new state-of-the-art equipment, known as a "sat nav for the brain" will lead to many more survivors.

Using an intraoperative MRI scanner together with sophisticated brain mapping equipment, surgeons are able to work out whether they have managed to remove all of a brain tumour while still in theatre.

They can also work out precisely where a tumour is, thereby ensuring surrounding healthy tissue is not damaged.

So far, two young patients have benefited from the new operating suite at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

Surgeons hope to be able to offer the facilities to children up and down the country with a view to also treating adult patients.

Hesham Zaki, head of the department of paediatric neurosurgery, said the equipment puts the Sheffield hospital at the forefront of increasing survival rates from brain tumours in the UK and worldwide.

He said: "The fact we can use the MRI scanner during the surgery is a real step-change."

Mr Zaki said the MRI images mean they can be sure the tumour has been completely removed and nothing has been left behind before they finish the operation.

"This is important because some types of brain tumour can look like normal brain."

Mr Zaki says children's survival from brain tumours "is almost entirely dependent on whether the surgeon is able to remove all of the tumour."

He said complete removal means there is a 70 per cent to 80 per cent chance of long-term survival.

"But if we leave some behind, this can drop to as low as 40 per cent," he said.

Mr Zaki and colleagues use the MRI scanner, funded by the Children's Hospital Charity, in conjunction with "brain lab" technology which enables them to pinpoint the exact location of a tumour in real time during surgery.

Surgeons use a medical probe or laser coming from the end of a microscope to "touch" tissue and tumour in the brain. The location of different tissue is then shown up on a screen which has been loaded with MRI images from the patient.

This enables surgeons to precisely work out where a tumour is, enabling it to be removed without harming healthy tissue.

Another MRI is then carried out during the operation to ensure all the tumour has gone before the surgery ends.

For brain tumour charities, such as BTRS (Brain Tumour Research and Support Across Yorkshire) anything that can increase survival rates is a positive move.

"We welcome this newest breakthrough in surgical techniques and look forward to hearing more about the Brain Sat Nav, which could become part of a treatment pathway that might ultimately produce a cure. We live in hope that it will yield successful outcomes for all brain tumour patients," says a spokesman for the charity.

"At BTRS (Brain Tumour Research & Support across Yorkshire) we work with children and adults affected by this terrible disease. We see, and know first-hand, the devastating effects that brain tumours have on both patients and their families. The charity fundraises to invest money into research, in Yorkshire, that will discover new and innovative ways to treat this very complicated and difficult disease."

Originally launched in Bingley, BTRS was previously known as Andrea's Gift as it was named after Bradford mum Andrea Key who died from a brain tumour.

BTRS offers practical, financial and emotional support to both adult and child brain tumour patients, together with families and carers. This includes monthly support groups, events, grants and counselling.

The charity also invests in brain tumour research individually and collaboratively.

Along with the children's charity, Candlelighters, BTRS co-fund the Translational Neuro-Oncology Group at Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine and supports its work involving more than 20 scientists investigating different aspects of research and providing hope for brain tumour patients.

To date, the charity has raised more than £2.3million to support patients and research across the county.

For more information, advice or support, visit btrs.org.uk.