The cancer treatment that hasn’t been used once: How patients with rare tumours are being denied lifesaving therapy available on the NHS
Liver cancer patients with a rare type of tumour are being denied a lifesaving treatment despite its approval for use on the NHS.
A leading cancer charity is now calling for action, claiming that sufferers are being ‘left in limbo’.
The treatment, called selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT), was approved last year, offering a lifeline for patients with a rare neuroendocrine tumour (NET) in the liver.
At the time, then-health minister Andrew Stephenson welcomed the decision as one which ‘not only helps cancer patients to get back to living their lives but helps free up NHS resources and cut waiting lists’.
But The Mail on Sunday has learned that not a single patient has received the SIRT treatment as the NHS has not funded it.
‘It is completely unacceptable that a treatment which has been deemed safe, effective and cost-efficient is still not being made available,’ says Layla Stephen, an NET patient and director at the cancer charity Planets.
‘People with NETs don’t have time to wait – they need access to the best treatments now, not in another year or two.’
About 6,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with an NET every year. The tumours are usually found in the pancreas, bowel or lungs but can also develop in other parts of the body.
Liver cancer patients with a rare type of tumour are being denied a lifesaving treatment despite its approval for use on the NHS (stock image)
The treatment, called selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT), was approved last year, offering a lifeline for patients with a rare neuroendocrine tumour (NET) in the liver
Andrew Stephenson (pictured) welcomed the decision as one which ‘not only helps cancer patients to get back to living their lives but helps free up NHS resources and cut waiting lists’
Without SIRT, options for most patients are limited to surgery.
During the treatment, millions of microspheres – radioactive beads smaller than the width of a human hair – are injected into the liver’s blood supply. These stick to small blood vessels in the tumour and release radiation that destroys the cancer cells.
When NHS spending watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) concluded that SIRT should be funded by the NHS, it said it resulted in fewer side effects, faster recovery times and better quality of life for patients compared with surgery or chemotherapy. It also found a better overall survival rate.
An NHS spokesman said: ‘The NHS is developing a national policy on SIRT to ensure all patients across England have the best possible treatment.’
