Patients with life-threatening tumours that cannot be removed through conventional surgery are being offered hope by a "radiation knife".

Radio waves offer hope in tumour surgery

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Surgeons are able to operate on growths inside the head and neck with radio waves, using a machine called a gamma knife.

It has helped cancer patients who were told that their tumour could not be treated.

Others have had their sight or hearing saved after the operation relieved the pressure from tumours pressing on nerves inside their heads.

Yet, patients with non-cancerous tumours that are threatening vital blood vessels in the head and those with cancer that has spread to the brain are not being offered the technique when they should be.

Although the treatment cannot cure cancerous tumours in the brain, it can often prolong life. In those with dangerous but non-cancerous growths near blood vessels and glands, it can be a life-saver."