Late effects and cancer survivorship after diagnosis and treatment of aggressive lymphoma
Our research is about cancer survivorship. Cancer survivorship includes questions that revolve around the patients' journey from the time of diagnosis, the subsequent treatment period and then further in life as a cancer survivor. In this field, questions such as are e.g., linked to how you feel after your treatment important for both patients, relatives and caregivers. As new treatment options become available, it is important to investigate how these treatments affect patients in the long term as well.
Lymphoma is a collective name for cancers that arise in our lymphatic system. Different types of lymphoma can differ significantly in terms of symptoms, diagnostics and treatment, but common to all lymphoma diseases is that they are often treated with chemotherapy. However, the treatment itself can mean that the patients have difficulty having children in the future, as well as lead to an increased risk of both heart disease and new forms of cancer several years after the treatment. As lymphoma is the fourth most common form of cancer among young people, it is particularly important to understand how to both promote early detection of late effects but also reduce the risk overall.
We study several of these important aspects of lymphoma survival; the possibility of having children after various lymphoma treatments, as well as the risk of suffering from heart disease or a new cancer later in life. By using new types of statistical models, with this project we want to increase the current state of knowledge regarding these late effects by identifying particularly vulnerable patient groups that would benefit most from long-term clinical follow-up.