Great-grandmother first in UK to receive pioneering robotic liver cancer therapy
‘Trailblazing’ NHS pilot combines AI and robotics to spot lung cancer faster
Brenda Iveson, a 92-year-old great-grandmother from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, has become the first person in the UK to receive pioneering robotic-guided electrochemotherapy for an inoperable six-centimetre liver tumour.
Initially, Mrs Iveson was informed that conventional cancer therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, would be ineffective due to the tumour’s location and her frailty.
Medics at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust offered the minimally invasive treatment, which combines a small dose of chemotherapy with targeted electrical pulses, precisely guided by robotic needles.
This method, which does not use heat and allows for safe treatment near vital structures, marks the first time robotic guidance has been used for electrochemotherapy in a liver in the UK.
Following the treatment, Mrs Iveson’s tumour has shrunk by approximately 80 per cent, and she reports feeling very well, with the treatment offering hope where there were previously no options.
