PATIENTS from the North-East have helped pioneer a scanning technique which allows doctors to watch cancer tumours being attacked by drugs.

The technique, which uses a new scanning process called positron emission tomography (Pet), should help doctors spot early signs that a drug is not working.

This should allow specialists to select a more effective drug to suit the patient.

It may also speed up clinical trials of promising anti-cancer drugs.

Currently, it is very difficult for doctors to tell whether a cancer treatment is working without operating on the patient.

Scientists funded by Cancer Research UK in Newcastle, London and Manchester studied patients who were being treated at Newcastle General Hospital.

The North-East patients were flown to London's Hammersmith Hospital where they were scanned using the Pet technique.

The patients were receiving a drug called nolatrexed (or Thimitaq), which stops cancer cells from making thymidine, which allows the tumour to grow.

By injecting the patients with mildly radioactive molecules of thymidine, researchers were able to watch on screen as the anti-cancer drug took effect.

Professor Herbie Newell, from the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at Newcastle University, said: "This system will not only be extremely useful for monitoring an individual's treatment, but may also allow us to reduce the time it takes to put drugs through clinical trials, because it will become apparent much earlier in a study whether or not a drug is likely to be effective."

Cancer Research UK has invested almost £2m in research projects at Newcastle University's drug development centre.