A SURGEON from Plymouth has contributed to a report suggesting half of all brain tumour cases are missing from official statistics.

Derriford Hospital consultant neurosurgeon Mr Louis Pobereskin has backed the charity Brain Tumour UK's report calling on the Government to ensure all brain tumours are officially recorded, to aid effective care.

In the South West, the charity calculates there are 4,720 people affected by brain tumours each year missing from the official Cancer Register.

"Official figures from the Cancer Intelligence Units significantly underestimate brain tumour incidence, especially for benign tumours," said Mr Pobereskin.

"I'm delighted that Brain Tumour UK has highlighted the serious ramifications of this missing data.

"Compared to Europe our brain tumour survival rates look poor, but if you're missing large numbers of patients from the statistics, then they don't give a true picture."

A study by Mr Pobereskin was used in Brain Tumour UK's report.

He compared five years'-worth of CT and MRI scan records held by Devon and Cornwall hospitals with records held by the South and West Cancer Intelligence Unit (now Cancer Registry).

Of 1,480 primary brain tumours which could have been added to the registry, only 776 (52 per cent) were.

Only a third of tumours in patients who did not undergo surgery were recorded, and only two-thirds of tumours in patients who were admitted to hospital for surgery. Even 28 per cent of malignant tumours were not recorded.

Mr Pobereskin said: "Despite the fact that routinely collected data is used to inform decisions which have major financial and pubic health implications, there's little information about the data's accuracy and completeness."

Brain Tumour UK's report, entitled Register My Tumour, Recognise Me, estimates that every year in the UK 48,000 people develop a primary or secondary brain tumour.

The charity says it believes roughly half of all primary brain tumour patients – around 8,100 people – are missed from official statistics every year.

Many more cases of secondary brain cancer – perhaps 32,000 people – are also not recorded in detail, it says.

It is calling for health service cancer teams across the UK to require data on all brain tumours to be reported for cancer waiting times.

The charity also demands that national governments should specify clear lines of accountability to ensure comprehensive data is collected.