Cancer trials are carried out to try to find new and better treatments for cancer. Trials that are carried out on patients are known as clinical trials
Many drugs and treatments that have been tested in clinical trials are now in common use and without ongoing clinical trials it would not be possible to add to the current knowledge about effective treatments
Clinical trials of new treatments rarely stop when specialists agree that it works. There may be better ways of using it, such as giving it in different doses or combining it with other treatments.
Clinical trials are divided into different stages called phases. The earliest phase trials look at whether a drug is safe or the side effects it causes. Later phase trials will aim to test whether a new treatment is better than existing treatments
There are 3 main phases of trials: Phases 1 to 3. Some trials will have an earlier stage 0 and there are some phase 4 trials undertaken after a drug has been licensed.
Please click here for latest trial information.
Trials Available in Scotland for thyroid cancer
Hemi-or total Thyroidectomy (HoT) trial in low-risk thyroid cancer
The HoT is a randomised trial for patients with low-risk thyroid cancer, which aims to compare two types of surgery following diagnosis: thyroidectomy or a hemithyroidectomy.
Which patients are suitable for the trial?
Eligible patients will have a diagnosis of low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer and be aged 16 and above.
There will be two eligible groups of patients:
- Group 1: Patients who have already had a hemithyroidectomy for thyroid problems and are then subsequently diagnosed with low risk differentiated thyroid cancer.
- Group 2: Patients diagnosed with low risk differentiated thyroid cancer using cytology (Thy5) or core biopsy but who haven’t yet had surgery.
Where is the trial taking place?
The trial is being coordinated by Cancer Research UK and the University College London (UCL) Cancer Trials Centre. It plans to recruit 456 patients from 30 hospitals across the UK over four years.
More trial sites are opening all the time.
Patients can only be recruited from hospitals that have opened for recruitment. Patients can contact the trial team on the link below for more information.
What are the aims of the trial?
The aims of the HoT trial are to help patients and surgeons when deciding which type of surgery to have and to determine:
- what the chances are of the cancer coming back after hemithyroidectomy compared to total thyroidectomy
- what the need is for thyroid replacement therapy after both types of surgery
- what the effects of both types of surgery are on quality of life
- which surgery has the fewest complication and is most cost effective for the NHS
More information and contact details
For more information you can visit UCL website
You can contact the trial team via email