Frozen tissue brain cancer treatment
Tabled 13 October 2025 by Tonia Antoniazzi
That this House recognises that malignant brain tumour prognosis remains dismal and that treatment has barely changed in the last 50 years; notes that many new innovative testing and treatment techniques make use of the biological information stored in tumour tissue samples; further notes that to remain usable for these techniques such tissue samples need to be fresh frozen at -80 degrees C rather than stored in paraffin wax which is the current norm; is concerned that the NHS currently has insufficient appropriate freezer capacity and this is a significant contributory factor to the NHS’s ongoing failure to provide the NICE recommended whole genome sequencing for brain tumour patients in England; acknowledges that the lack of freezer capacity could be rectified for the relatively small sum of just a few hundred thousand pounds; supports an associated need for updated guidance to clinicians to ensure patients have the right to exercise informed consent as to how their tissue is stored and used; and calls on the Government to work with stakeholders to address the freezer capacity shortage and develop a regime in which patients are equipped to give informed consent on matters relating to tissue storage.