International standards of care

A five-year-old boy regains the ability to walk following state-of-the-art radiotherapy treatment to a brain tumour.

He was referred to us with a 4-month history of progressive weakness in both legs and arms. Two weeks before attending his first appointment, he could no longer walk and could not raise his arms above his head. An MRI showed features of brain stem glioma which was difficult to sample (biopsy) or be considered for surgical removal due to the proximity of the tumour to the respiratory centre.

We treated him with cranio-spinal radiotherapy using the very accurate Truebeam linear accelerator following careful simulation and planning by our highly skilled radiation oncology team.

Treatment was delivered in 2 phases from the 1st of July 2021: phase 1 was 36 Gy in 20 fractions over 4 weeks and phase 2 was 18 Gy in 10 fractions over 2 weeks. treatment was well tolerated and a week prior to the end of his radiotherapy, he was able to walk, run and even jump with steady gait!

Please watch the video to see him walking and ringing the ceremonial bell at the end of his radiotherapy treatment and listen to his mother’s heartfelt testimony.