Childhood brain tumour diagnosis continues to improve

Diagnosis times for brain tumours inchildren and young people have comedown for the second year in a row,according to the charity HeadSmart. Theannouncement comes two years afterthe initiation of the charity’s €˜Be BrainTumour Aware’ campaign, launched inJune 2011. Data from a study of 142 childrenbefore the campaign launched showedthe average length of time it took todiagnose a brain tumour in a child inthe UK was 9.1 weeks, which comparesunfavourably with other westerncountries. Recent figures from a newstudy of 479 children show the diagnosistime to have dropped to 6.9 weeks. The campaign, based on a clinicalguideline endorsed by the Royal Collegeof