Screening for papilloedema to diagnose brain tumours version 2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Screening for papilloedema to diagnose brain tumours
IRAS ID
286872
Contact name
Denize Atan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Regular visits to the optician to have an eye test are important to check on eye health. While examining our eyes, serious health problems can be picked up. As an example of how important eye tests can be, only 50% of people with nerve swelling at the back of the eyes from a brain tumour have any symptoms. This means that opticians may be the first health professionals to detect signs of a brain tumour- even in people having a routine check-up without any symptoms.
Brain tumours cause headaches and nerve swelling at the back of the eyes because they increase the pressure inside the head. But, brain tumours are not the only cause of headaches: among people who seek the advice of their GP for headaches, very few will have a brain tumour as the cause.
It is also true that brain tumours are not the only cause of nerve swelling at the back of the eyes. Currently, we don't have enough information to work out the risk of brain tumour in people with nerve swelling at the back of their eyes and this is what we'd like to find out in our study.
Using information held by Public Health England and from GP surgeries in the UK, we would like to find out what percentage of people affected by nerve swelling at the back of their eyes caused by brain tumours. We would also like to find out whether people with nerve swelling are normally diagnosed by an eye specialist, like an optician or eye doctor, GP or other health professional. We intend to look back over the last 5 years to see if there are any trends in the way that people with nerve swelling at the back of their eyes are diagnosed.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0948
Date of REC Opinion
31 Jul 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion