Getting up the noses of acquired brain injury patientsRSS Feed

Patients suffering from a form of acquired brain injury caused by cancer may be able to take a drug treatment nasally, rather than having to inject it.

Scientists say the initial tests of a nose drop version of the drug methotrexate shows promise as a more effective treatment for cancer of the brain.

Brain cancer is traditionally difficult to treat because of the problems anticancer drugs have in reaching the brain, the report published in American Chemical Society's Molecular Pharmaceutics journal says.

This is down to the blood-brain barrier of cells that prevents medication entering the brain.

Nose drop or nasal spray version of drugs, however, appear to be able to bypass this barrier.

"The strategy to utilise the nose-brain direct transport can be applicable to a new therapeutic system not only for brain tumours but also for other central nervous system disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases," the article noted.

According to the charity Headway, even benign brain tumours can cause brain injury as the growth can compress and damage healthy tissue.

News brought to you by Serious Law specialists in acquired brain injury

Posted by Paul Breen
 

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