- Promotor
- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Tuesday 21 May 2024, 10:30 - 12:00
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Professor Andries Querido room
- Building
- Education Center
- Location
- Erasmus MC
On Tuesday 21 May 2024, N.D. Sijtsema will defend the doctoral thesis titled: ‘Development of Imaging-Based Response Predictors for Personalized Radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer‘.
Brief summary of the doctoral thesis:
Tumor response to treatment is heterogeneous among patients with head and neck cancer. At the same time, head and neck radiation therapy is complex due to the many organs at risk (OARs) involved and irradiation can lead to significant toxicity in treated patients. So, a considerable group of patients does not respond well to treatment, while at the same time suffering from side effects.
Personalization of treatment could improve response to treatment while minimizing side effects, for example through personalization approaches such as (1) more dose to tumors that need more dose, (2) less dose to tumors that need less dose, (3) higher biological dose, (4) more dose to patients that can tolerate more dose, (5) selective sparing of complication prone regions. To employ any of these personalization approaches, methods for response and toxicity prediction are needed. Therefore, the primary objective of this thesis was to develop imaging-based markers that provide insight into prediction of tumor response and treatment-related toxicity. The aim is to use these predictors for optimization of treatment planning and decision-making, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes.
- More information
The public defence will begin exactly at 10.30 hrs. The doors will be closed once the public defence starts, latecomers can access the hall via the fourth floor. Due to the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.