The electric swimming cap that could help fight brain tumours

It might look like a swimming cap, but this could be the next advance in stopping brain tumours. Here is why.

At first glance it looks like a swimming cap, but the device Grant Stobart has been wearing for the past 18 months could be the next advance in stopping brain tumours.

Doctors at one of England’s leading cancer hospitals have launched a clinical trial of headgear that emits electric fields. The pulses disrupt cell division in glioblastoma – one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer.

The Tumour Treating Fields (TT Fields) cap is used only after patients have had surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible and before any radiotherapy. The device, which is powered by a portable battery pack, has not been approved for use on the NHS, although the therapy is approved for use by America’s Food and Drug Administration and CE marked for use in the European Union.

The clinical trial launched by the Christie NHS Trust in Manchester is hoping to provide evidence for the first time that the device could be used earlier in a patient’s treatment. This could significantly affect the life expectancy of those with glioblastoma, which affects 3200 people a year in the UK. Less than 10 per cent of patients survive more than five years after diagnosis.

Grant Stobart has been wearing this cap for the past 18 months. Picture supplied by The Times

Stobart, 61, who was diagnosed more than two years ago, has been wearing the device for 18 months as a private patient, after having surgery and radiotherapy. He said: “It took some getting used to, both for me and my family. I focus on wearing it as much as possible and adjusting to the patches.”

He must keep his head shaved and do his best to avoid sweating but added: “It hasn’t stopped me from leading an active life. I still travel, walk to stay fit, and recently enjoyed a family holiday in Peru. I’m also looking forward to my son’s wedding in South Africa.”

He has been part of designing the new study as the patient representative alongside Gerben Borst, a consultant oncologist at the Christie and senior lecturer at Manchester University, who is leading the work. A randomised controlled study of TT Fields use showed a statistically significant extra five months’ survival time for patients wearing the device, compared with those who did not.

Borst is aiming to recruit 14 patients to wear the device soon after their initial diagnosis and before surgery to study whether using it earlier benefits them even more.

“For the vast majority of patients, glioblastoma does come back after surgery,” Borst said. “We know this [technology] works, so why don’t we bring it in at an earlier stage where the patients are not having treatment? I want to challenge the current treatment paradigm where patients have surgery first and then have to wait often six weeks before treatment, such as radiotherapy, starts. In that time, the tumour cells have all the time and possibility to proliferate and migrate because of how fast and aggressive they grow.”

When a cell begins the process of dividing, microtubules form a frame within it to help duplicate chromosomes before it splits entirely – a process that is susceptible to electrical interference, which stops the proper alignment of microtubules. Because glioblastoma cells divide more rapidly than healthy cells, this makes them especially vulnerable.

The electrical fields alternate at a low intensity, at about 100-300kHz, which is calibrated to target the cancer cells specifically, leaving other cells are unaffected. However, the electrical fields can also produce fatal errors in the chromosomes.

Borst’s trial, called Portrait, is recruiting newly diagnosed patients. One of the first to sign up was Andy Bradley, 58, a chartered surveyor and father of two from Knutsford in Cheshire, who was diagnosed with a glioblastoma at the beginning of February.

Bradley said: “This diagnosis came completely out of the blue. I didn’t have headaches or any symptoms at all. I’d just played my best game of football in ages with my Sunday five-a-side team and was laughing and joking with the lads afterwards.”

When he got home he experienced a surge in energy and strange behaviour which he said was “absolutely terrifying”. His wife, Lisa, drove him to hospital, where staff told him he had a brain tumour. “It was a complete shock as I’m quite health-conscious, watch my weight and exercise regularly,” he said.

Stobart started wearing the device as part of his treatment after meeting Borst at Salford Royal Hospital, Greater Manchester, in 2023.

“It’s nice to have a half-hour of relief from it when I shave my head every few days but I can’t wait to get it back on to continue to attack whatever is there,” he said. “I feel lucky to have the opportunity to wear the TT Fields as it helps me stay positive as I feel I’m doing something proactive about the problem.”

Professor Andrew King, co-director of the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre, which is based in Salford and supports Borst’s work, said: “This innovative work is precisely the sort of novel patient-centred research that the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre is committed to. Gerben Borst has an impressive track record in such innovation with pre-surgical treatment of glioblastoma. We hope this study will make a real difference to patients’ lives in the near future.”

The trial is available exclusively in Manchester. It is being funded by Novocure, but led by Borst and the Christie, one of Europe’s leading cancer centres and the largest provider of radiotherapy in the NHS.

This article originally appeared on The Times.