DOCTORS in Southampton are set to perform the most advanced and specialist forms of treatment for brain tumours in the country.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS) is one of just 16 centres in the UK selected to carry out an advanced type of treatment for brain tumours.

The treatment involves using advanced technology which enables doctors to shoot precise beams of radiation into the tumour.

It also allows them to increase the dosage of radiation beamed into the tumour without damaging the healthy tissue around it, causing less side effects for patients.

The new type of therapy will treat around 200 patients from across Hampshire and the south every year.

The medical advance is one of several new treatments that has been rolled out by the hospital over the last few years.

These include the £20million programme which to install six new machines, two CT scanners and radiotherapy planning software.

UHS recently unveiled the UK’s first Mobetron machine, funded by the charity PLANETS, a mobile machine which lets doctors use electron beam radiotherapy during surgery and can be used to treat pancreatic, neuroendocrine, colorectal and bladder tumours.

Across the UK the number of patients receiving stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and radiotherapy (SRT) will more than double over the next three years, from 2,400 in 2014-15 to more than 6,200 a year by 2018-19.

Before the treatment was rolled out at UHS, patients from Hampshire who needed SRS or SRT would have to travel Bristol, London or even as far as Sheffield Dr Geoff Sharpe, a consultant neuro-oncologist at UHS, said: “This is fantastic news for our service and patients across the south who will benefit from faster access to these advanced forms of brain tumour treatment much closer to home.

“Our oncology centre continues to grow and we are delighted to add another development which will ensure we remain at the forefront of developments in cancer treatment across the country.”

Dr Jonathan Fielden, NHS England’s Director of Specialised Services, said: “As a result of this procurement, thousands more patients will benefit from this very precise and effective form of treatment.

“This is another example of how NHS England is working hard to achieve better services and outcomes for patients at the same time as better value for the health service.”