Midway evaluation - Njål Gjærde Lura
Midway evaluation for the PhD degree at the University of Bergen for candidate Njål Gjærde Lura
Main content
Njål Gjærde Lura is affiliated with the Department of Clinical Medicine. Supervisors are Ingfrid Haldorsen, Camilla Krakstad and Kathrine Woie.
Project
Precision imaging for individualized treatment in uterine cervical cancer
Abstract
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in women, especially among women living in low-income countries. Clinical staging results and findings at diagnostic imaging guide the primary treatment of cervical cancer. There are limitations in the treatment of patients with cervical cancer due to suboptimal diagnostic tools for accurate pre-treatment risk stratification.
This Ph.D. project focuses on the value of advanced preoperative imaging to provide functional and morphological tumor characteristics relevant to treatment and prognosis in uterine cervical cancer. A unique patient series of >500 cervical cancer patients, diagnosed and treated at Haukeland University Hospital, was studied with preoperative imaging by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Routinely reported MRI findings in uterine cervical cancer and diffusion-weighted imaging is explored in relation to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging results, clinical outcome, and histologic markers.
The project aims to give more knowledge and insight into how to improve risk stratification by identifying imaging markers that can be used to better guide therapy: Giving the treating clinicians the diagnostic tools for selecting less invasive treatment for low-risk patients and reserving more intensive treatment regimens for high-risk patients.