NICE update: tumour dye to be rolled out

It’s been a busy summer at NICE with 17 pieces of guidance published, writes Gary Shield. Ten technology appraisals were recommended while new guidelines on Brain tumours (primary) and brain metastases in adults (NG99) and Community pharmacies: promoting health and wellbeing (NG102) were also published.

In the final guidance on brain tumours, a chemical dye that can help neurosurgeons remove a brain tumour should be used in initial surgery, NICE has said. It is recommended patients take 5-amino levulinic acid (5-ALA) – or ‘pink drink’ – before surgery. As a result, tumour cells glow pink under ultraviolet light, allowing a surgeon using a fluorescence-detecting microscope to identify which areas of the brain are cancerous.

The late Dame Tessa Jowell urged the government to make 5-ALA available across the NHS in one of her final speeches to the House of Lords. Prime minister Theresa May announced in May £40m of funding, topped up by £25m from Cancer Research UK, for the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission to stimulate innovative new research and clinical practice to boost outcomes of people diagnosed with brain tumours.

Implementing this new guideline is set to benefit hundreds of patients a year and is set to cost £2.5m per year from 2019/20. Further details on the potential costs, savings and benefits of implementing the guideline can be found in the resource impact tools published alongside the guideline.

The new guideline makes recommendations about diagnosis, monitoring and treatment as well as the information and support that should be offered to patients. The recommendations are not only for people with malignant brain tumours, gliomas and metastases, but also for those with more long-term problematic tumours such as meningiomas.