P R E S S   R E L E A S E

The Neurosurgical Unit of the Department of Surgery at The Chinese University of Hong Kong has recently received an anonymous donation to set up a Hong Kong - China Brain Tumor Research Centre.  The Centre will be jointly administered by the Department of Anatomical & Cellular Pathology and the Neurosurgical Unit, Department of Surgery at the University.  Officiating at the Inauguration  Ceremony were Professor Sydney Chung, Dean of Medicine, CUHK, Professor Poon Wai-sang, Head of the Neurosurgical Unit, Department of Surgery, CUHK, and Professor Ng Ho-keung, Acting Chairman of the Department of Anatomical & Cellular Pathology, CUHK.   Also at the Ceremony were Professor Wang Zhong-cheng of the Institute of Neurosurgery, Tian Tan Hospital, Beijing and Professor Zhou Liang-fu, Department of Neurosurgery, Hua Shan Hospital, Shanghai Medical University.  These two departments are the largest departments of neurosurgery in the whole of China.

According to Professor Ng Ho-keung, there are about 200 to 250 new cases of malignant brain tumors in Hong Kong each year.   The Prince of Wales Hospital treats more than one-quarter of these patients (Table 1).  The number of patients with brain tumors receiving treatment at the Prince of Wales Hospital is rising in recent years.  The majority of brain tumors are malignant and are located in the central nervous system, which make treatments in the form of surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy carry a degree of mortality and morbidity.  The factors contributing to the formation of brain tumors are complex and genetics, multiple traumas and radiation are some of the known contributing aetiologies.

The Hong Kong - China Brain Tumor Research Centre will capitalize on the clinical and scientific materials and expertise of three leading centres of brain tumors: the Chinese University, Tian Tan Hospital, Beijing and Shanghai Hua Shan Hospital.   With the vast number of patients and materials available, the focus of research will be on genetics of brain tumor formation.   The advent of molecular genetic technique allows us to study in depth changes of genes that are important in the development of brain tumors.    Knowledge of these changes will enable development of technology targeted against these genetic changes in the treatment of these malignant tumors, e.g. gene therapy.    This kind of genetic information also allows early diagnosis of tumors that run in family and gives prediction for prognosis and indication for need for adjuvant therapy, e.g. radiotherapy.   

In brain tumor surgery, Professor Poon Wai-sang indicates that computer-aided navigation will play an important role for a safe and effective tumor surgery.  In collaboration with the Department of Physicis and Material Science of the City University of Hong Kong and the Electronic and Engineering Department of the Chinese University, the Faculty of Medicine has conducted research on different aspects of computer-aided navigation such as brain shift prediction with finite element model, three-dimensional ultrasound based correction for brain shift, accuracy verification, robotic system, surface identification and matching.  Based on these research findings, CUHK aims to further improve the current available neuro-navigation systems and to provide the public with high quality neurosurgical service.