These are studies by Jacco-Juri de Haan, An Reyners, Jourik Gietema, Hans Nijman and Monique Dorrius. Reyners receives almost €4,000,000, Gietema receives more than €1,500,000, de Haan receives more than €700,000 and Nijman and Dorrius both receive more than €200,000.
Jacco-Juri de Haan – Taste and smell training in cancer patients
Changes in taste and smell due to chemotherapy are common. These changes reduce the quality of life of patients and their loved ones. De Haan and his team are investigating the effectiveness of taste control and taste and smell training. They do this in two clinical studies. In the first study they work with taste control by adapting food to changing taste and smell. In the second study, patients will taste and smell a standard set of flavors and odorants every day. Because saliva production and composition play a crucial role in the development of changes in taste and smell, additional saliva research will provide more insight into the usefulness of these two methods.
All patients will complete questionnaires on enjoyment of food, quality of life, nutritional status and dry mouth, provide saliva and undergo taste and smell tests. This will demonstrate whether patients with cancer benefit from taste control and taste and smell training.
An Reyners – Symptom monitoring for patients with incurable cancer
Patients with incurable cancer often experience various complaints such as pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, constipation and anxiety, which can occur simultaneously. Symptom monitoring can contribute to reducing complaints. This means that patients indicate how serious they experience their complaints, so that healthcare providers can quickly intervene to reduce the complaints. This has several advantages, such as fewer complaints, fewer visits to the emergency room and fewer hospital admissions, which improves the overall quality of life.
The aim of Reyners’ project is to develop a user-friendly system for symptom monitoring, integrated into electronic patient files. The implementation of this system will start in oncology departments and outpatient clinics of the university hospitals, and will be gradually expanded.
Jourik Gietema – Personal aftercare plan for testicular cancer
Since the introduction of cisplatin-containing chemotherapy more than 40 years ago, most testicular cancer patients are cured. But follow-up of these patients showed that this can lead to long-term effects such as tumors and cardiovascular disease. A personal, tailor-made aftercare plan can make it easier and improve the detection and treatment of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. This personal plan is offered to the patient via a personal health environment (PGO). It is also available for general practitioners and oncological care providers. The implementation of this personal aftercare plan starts in the testicular cancer treatment centers of the regional oncology networks.
Hans Nijman – Local immunotherapy for cervical cancer
Checkpoint inhibitors are a successful treatment for several types of cancer, including cervical cancer. These are medications that ensure that the immune system becomes more active and that immune cells attack cancer cells. Administering checkpoint inhibitors systemically (via the bloodstream) is not without side effects. Research has shown that local treatment with checkpoint inhibitors is also very effective, with a lower dose and fewer expected side effects.
Injecting checkpoint inhibitors directly into the tumor is often not possible or very stressful for patients. An alternative is to focus local treatment not on the tumor itself, but on the tumor-draining lymph nodes, these are organs that play an important role in immunotherapy. Nijman will investigate whether it is feasible to locally treat tumor-draining lymph nodes prior to surgery and what dosage of checkpoint inhibitors is able to kill cancer cells in the tumor. Nijman also wants to determine whether the therapy really enters the bloodstream at a minimum and remains local, with a reduced risk of side effects.
Monique Dorrius – Excluding cancer in calcium deposits in the breast
Of the breast tumors found on a mammogram, approximately 67% cannot be felt. More than half of this consists of calcium flecks, which are small calcium deposits in the breast. These limescale specks can be benign or malignant. At this moment, a piece of tissue is taken from these people under local anesthesia. It usually turns out afterwards that these limescale specks are benign. Overdiagnosis and unnecessary biopsies affect the quality of life. During the biopsy, people may experience tension, discomfort and pain. In addition, waiting for the results brings uncertainty and stress.
Another option to rule out cancer in calcium flecks is Photon-Counting CT (PCCT) with contrast agent. This device resembles a regular CT scan but can produce very detailed images of both calcium and soft tissue. Dorrius will investigate whether Photon Counting CT can safely rule out cancer in calcium flecks. This can prevent unnecessary biopsies and stress in people. Dorrius expects that unnecessary biopsies can be prevented in 80% of people with calcium flecks by using a Photon-Counting CT. This ensures less stress and no pain.
There is more about the KWF website awards to read.
2023-12-12 14:13:12
#UMCG #researchers #receive #million #subsidies #KWF
