Weston Park Cancer Centre recruits first UK patients onto groundbreaking radiotherapy trials

Researchers at Weston Park Cancer Centre, Sheffield, have recruited some of the UK’s first patients onto two groundbreaking radiotherapy trials. Teams from the Cancer Clinical Trials Centre were the first to recruit a UK patient into SCC-AFTER, a £3.4m National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) trial run by the Centre for Trials Research at Cardiff University, which could change the way a common skin cancer is treated.

Set to run across 25 NHS sites and involve around 840 patients, the trial is evaluating whether post-operative radiotherapy can prevent the recurrence of high risk cutaneous squamous carcinoma.

Another team recruited one of the UK’s first patients into the TOURIST trial, the first trial in 20 years to look at how radiotherapy could benefit late stage metastatic lung cancer patients. This trial, also funded by the NIHR, uses volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) to treat cancer, improving accuracy and shortening treatment time. This method also enables delivery of a lower overall dose of radiation.

Nearly 1,000 patients from 45 NHS hospitals will be recruited into TOURIST, managed by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit and supported by the national Radiotherapy Quality Assurance Group, with overall responsibility by The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

Richard Hardingham from Ecclesall is enrolled into the SCC-AFTER trial at Weston Park Cancer Centre. He volunteered to take part in order to give back to the NHS after receiving a skin cancer diagnosis late last year, just 18 months following a prostate cancer diagnosis. “At my age you are half-prepared for bad news sooner or later, but it was quite a numbing experience to be told I had cancer again and to take on board what the specialist was telling me in terms of treatment.”

Hardingham was diagnosed with the higher risk form of cutaneous squamous carcinoma, which recurs in one-third of patients. As well as making the cancer harder to treat, recurrence reduces quality of life and causes severe symptoms such as pain, bleeding, infections, disfigurement and loss of physical function.

Currently many hospitals treat this form of the disease with post-surgery radiotherapy to destroy any remaining cancer cells. But it has not been proven that radiotherapy to the cancer site prevents the cancer from returning and the treatment causes short and long-term side effects.

The SCC-AFTER trial will determine whether radiotherapy is helpful in reducing the chances of high risk cutaneous squamous carcinoma returning after surgery at the original site of the disease. If it is shown to be effective, it will be recommended as a routine NHS treatment.

Consultant clinical oncologist at Weston Park Cancer Centre Dr Caroline Bridgewater, who is leading the SCCAFTER trial in Sheffield, said: “Although cutaneous squamous carcinoma is usually cured by surgery, it can return either in the skin where it started or in nearby lymph glands. This is an important trial that will provide vital evidence as to whether radiotherapy should be used post-operatively to reduce the chances of cutaneous squamous carcinoma from returning at the original site of disease. Many skin cancer patients are over 80, so the trial represents a rare and hugely exciting opportunity for elderly cancer patients to join cutting-edge research.”

Lead picture: Dr Caroline Lee (third left) and Professor Matthew Hatton (right) and the TOURIST trial team.

Read this report on page 18 of the October 2025 issue of RAD Magazine.