UK project to tackle secondary bone tumours

Known as metastatic bone disease, the tumours spread from primary cancers elsewhere in the body, and the condition is strongly associated with breast cancer. The tumours can affect vertebrae, causing them to weaken and fracture, leaving patients in severe pain. However, in many instances, quality of life is paramount to the patient, with major surgery not an appropriate option.

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The collaboration, featuring the University of Leeds, Imperial College London and UCL, will develop an alternative treatment based on developing new imaging and modelling techniques that will enable clinicians to predict which patients are at a high risk of a vertebra fracturing.  Using minimally invasive surgery, patients could then be fitted with custom-built implants to prevent spinal fracturing.

“The problem facing doctors is they have no way of knowing which of the spinal vertebrae is going to collapse,” explained research lead Professor Richard Hall, an expert in medical engineering at the University of Leeds. “But when that happens, patients may require major surgery which involves a lengthy period of rehabilitation.