A man has seen his deadly brain tumour shrink by half thanks to a new radioactive therapy, which experts hope will eradicate the disease.

Doctors at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) are running a clinical trial to treat glioblastoma.

Around 3,200 people are diagnosed every year with the disease, which is the most common type of brain tumour in adults.

It kills most patients within 18 months and only 5 per cent live for five years.

The researchers’ aim is to cure the disease through injecting low levels of radioactivity directly into the tumour to kill off cancer cells.

Paul Read has seen his deadly brain tumour shrink by half thanks to a new radioactive therapy, which experts hope will eradicate the disease. Here Mr Read is pictured with his wife Pauline

The 62-year-old engineer from Luton, is the first patient to take part in the trial and has seen his tumour shrink by half in a matter of weeks. For the procedure, surgeons removed as much tumour as possible before implanting a small medical device called an Ommaya reservoir under the scalp, which connects to the tumour via a small tube

Paul Read, a 62-year-old engineer from Luton, is the first patient to take part in the trial and has seen his tumour shrink by half in a matter of weeks.

A second patient has also just started the therapy.

For the procedure, surgeons removed as much tumour as possible before implanting a small medical device called an Ommaya reservoir under the scalp, which connects to the tumour via a small tube.

The nuclear medicine team at UCLH then inject a drug – ATT001, an Iodine-123 labelled PARP inhibitor – directly into the tumour, delivering small amounts of radioactivity.

The drug, which is given weekly for four to six weeks, is very potent over short distances, causing lethal damage to tumour cells while sparing healthy tissue.

Mr Read, who has recurrent glioblastoma, first noticed a very severe headache last December that would not shift.

After being diagnosed and undergoing surgery two days after Christmas to remove as much of the tumour as possible, Mr Read had follow-up courses of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

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But doctors told him in July that his tumour was growing again.

Mr Read was then offered a place on the new CITADEL-123 trial at UCLH, having previously agreed to take part in clinical research.

He said: ‘I was fully expecting the tumour to return due to its aggressive nature. I know the outcome isn’t great and I was happy to explore anything else.

‘This trial was a lifeline, as the likelihood of survival according to the data was a year or less for me.

‘I am delighted to be given the opportunity to be part of this trial and I have not experienced any side-effects from the injections.

‘Possibly a little more tired, but overall, I am feeling very good.

‘I’m not frightened by any of this. We are all dealt a hand of cards and you don’t know which ones you are going to get.

‘It will be wonderful if this treatment helps me and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I am more than happy – even it if doesn’t benefit me, it may benefit someone else down the line.

‘So I have got nothing to lose and everything to hope for.’

UCLH consultant medical oncologist Dr Paul Mulholland, who designed the trial, said: ‘We have to aim to cure this disease. There’s reasons why we can cure it because this disease occurs in the same location in the brain.

‘Primary brain tumours do not metastasize around the body and generally stay in the same location in the brain.

‘It doesn’t spread to the rest of the body, so using a targeted – directly into the tumour – approach makes sense.’