A 92-year-old great-grandmother from Harrogate has become the first person in the UK to receive a pioneering robotic-guided treatment for liver cancer after being told her tumour was inoperable.
Brenda Iveson was diagnosed with a six-centimetre liver tumour in late 2025 and was initially told that conventional therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, would be ineffective. However, medics at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust offered her a minimally invasive alternative: robotic-guided electrochemotherapy, which combines a small dose of chemotherapy with targeted electrical pulses.
Surgeons used robotic needle guidance to precisely position needles around the tumour, a method never before performed in the UK for liver cancer. The treatment was carried out under general anaesthetic and does not use heat, allowing it to safely treat tumours located near vital structures such as blood vessels and bile ducts.
Professor Tze Min Wah, research and innovation lead for the interventional oncology programme at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This treatment allowed us to offer an option where there would otherwise have been none. The addition of robotic guidance improves precision and opens up new possibilities.”
Mrs Iveson said: “I had been told there was nothing that could be done. So to be offered this treatment gave me real hope. I’m so glad I went ahead — it wasn’t painful or debilitating, and I feel very well.” Current scans show her tumour is stable, and she is being closely monitored.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals is currently the only UK hospital delivering liver cancer electrochemotherapy as part of a European research study assessing its safety and efficacy. Mrs Iveson added: “Research may offer real results when there are no other options. If it helps me and future patients, then it’s worth it.”
