Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of cancer that originates in the brain tissue.

In a study states researchers at the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute that the prospects for adults with malignant brain tumors remain very poor.

During the last 40 years, survival has only improved marginally, and in addition, the forms of treatment often have a negative impact on the patient’s quality of life.

But now the team in Houston has developed a helmet that can reduce brain tumors seemingly without side effects. The helmet has three rotating magnets that are controlled by a microprocessor – and the electromagnetic field that arises from the rotation is given a specific profile, intensity and frequency.

Patient wore activated helmet for up to six hours per day

A first human test of the researchers’ “Oncomagnetic Device” gave good results. A 53-year-old man with glioblastoma first had to wear the battery-powered helmet at the hospital, later at home where the man’s wife could assist the treatment.

Initially, the magnetic field around the tumor was active for two hours each day, but the treatment time was then increased to six hours per day.

Unfortunately, the patient had time to die of other causes before the cancer treatment was completed, but the autopsy showed that a month’s use of the helmet had shrunk the tumor by 31 percent – and the decline seemed to follow the intensity of the treatment.

The FDA has approved the equipment for what they call “compassionate use”. The concept means that patients whose lives are in immediate danger are allowed to use medicines or equipment that are still under development.

Thus, the rotating magnets are an alternative to surgery, radiation and cytotoxic drugs to treat glioblastoma. The researchers’ work has published in Frontiers of Oncology.