PhD defence O. (Oisín) Bugter

In the first part of this thesis we investigated how often head and neck cancer patients developed developed second primary tumors in the head and neck region, but also in the esophagus and lungs. It appeared that this happened in 11% of the patients. It proved to be hard to predict in which patients this would happen. We also looked at the buccal mucosa of head and neck, lung, and esophageal cancer patients with an electronmicroscope to search for signs of cancer. Different aspects of the DNA were investigated. We found significant differences in patients with and without cancer. These findings might contribute to new screening methods in the future. In the next part such a method was investigated. The buccal mucosa of head and neck, lung and esophageal cancer patients were measured with light spectroscopy to detect the field effect of the tumor. This proofed to be partly possible. Thus, this method might be used as a complimentary technique to detect these types of cancer. In the fourth part we checked the excisting literature for yield of endoscopic screening of the esopahus for second primary tumors in head and neck cancer patients and visa-versa. The most promising evidence was for endoscopic screening of a selection of head and neck cancer patients. In the last part we investigated whether light spectroscopy was a usefull tool to detect lymph node metastases in the neck. The results of this pilot study were very promising.

Due to corona, the PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall or in the Professor Andries Querido Room. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online.