Sheffield Trophoblastic Disease Centre

Screening and treatment for gestational trophoblastic tumours

The Sheffield Trophoblastic Disease Centre was established in 1973, as part of a national programme, to screen for gestational trophoblastic tumours for the North of England and North Wales. Trophoblastic tumours are a spectrum of disorders including hydatidiform mole and choriocarcinoma.

The Sheffield Trophoblastic Disease Centre is based at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield. The centre is run in collaboration with the University of Sheffield and the Cancer Clinical Trials Centre at Weston Park Hospital.

In the UK there are three centres involved in the screening programme for trophoblastic disease, the others are at Charing Cross Hospital in London and at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

The Sheffield and London Centres also treat persistent tumours. Sheffield provides the service the service for the North of England and North Wales.

Resources and information

50th Anniversary Celebration

2023 marks the National GTD Service’s 50th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the Sheffield GTD service at Weston Park Cancer Centre hosted their celebrations in September at ‘Inox Dine’ in Sheffield. This was attended by patients, previous and current members of the GTD team.

At the event, patients shared and reflected on their personal stories of diagnosis and treatment, and the team highlighted how they are focusing on several research themes: improving outcomes, enhancing patient experience and precision medicine. Examples include the use of new immunotherapy treatments and a new trial in development aiming to reduce the use of combination chemotherapy. Other leading work includes development of an electronic personal health questionnaire to gather insights and data directly from patients on their whole experience of care and laboratory research to better predict which patients will develop resistance to treatments.

We are proud to provide a service which not only continues to achieve high cure rates but are also continuing to improve the patient experience by implementing ongoing support post completion of treatment.