Dear THESEUS Team,

After a long gap in communication, we are happy to be able to update you on the excellent progress of the THESEUS Study. This long delay has been due to the wait for the NIHR to agree contracts with Cardiff University. We are updating the RSTN webpage as we speak, so this will reflect your contribution soon!

Following the collection and analysis of the THESEUS clinician survey results, we were able to inform the design of a Prospective Observational study into the management of patients with HS. This was in response to the NIHR HTA call for proposals into the management of HS.

Together with the Dr John Ingram, a UK Dermatology Consultant who is an expert on HS, colleagues at Cardiff University Clinical Trials Unit, Centre for Evidence Based Dermatology, a GP representative, and the HS Trust (representing patients), we were able to successfully secure grant funding to the tune of £660,000 for our study.
So a HUGE well done to everyone for their efforts and enthusiasm. Now the real work starts!

We are currently recruiting 10 trial sites, which will have a mixture of surgeons and dermatologists with an interest in HS. We aim to start recruiting patients to the 5 arms of the study in October 2019. We will follow them for 1 year.

In terms of outputs from the work you contributed to, we have delivered oral presentations at the following meetings:

Combined Services Plastic Surgery Society Meeting (CSPSS), 11-12th October 2018

British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) Winter meeting, 28-30th November 2018.

Now the contracts have been signed, we can submit the paper of our results to a Plastic Surgery Journal, and if/when it is accepted, we will provide you with the citation and a copy of the manuscript – watch this space.

If you have any comments or questions, we’d love to hear from you, and we look forward to working with you in the near future.

Best wishes,

Rachel Howes and Jeremy Rodrigues
THESEUS Steering Group