Tove Ekdahl Hjelm
Phd Student
E-mail: tove.ekdahl.hjelm@ki.se
Visiting address: Karolinska Institutet, BioClinicum J8:20, Visionsgatan 4, 17164 Solna
Postal address: K1 Molekylär medicin och kirurgi, K1 MMK Kärlkirurgi, 171 76 Stockholm
Research
- Dr Tove Ekdahl Hjelm is a resident oncologist. The PhD projects are related
to early onset breast cancer in Sweden and Ethiopia and to breast surgery in
Uganda. The first study showed that a very small proportion of the incident
cases of breast cancer in Uganda were operated, demonstrating a large unmet
need for this type of surgery.
Studies including patients with early onset breast cancer and breast cancer
in men in Sweden and Ethiopia are ongoing/planned. These studies will
investigate family history of breast cancer and presence of genetic mutations
in several genes known or suspected to be associated with the risk of
developing breast cancer. A cohort of the study participants in Ethiopia will
be followed to investigate adherence to recommended treatment and causes for
non-adherence. Quality of life will be investigated and evaluated over time
in the cohort.
In sub-Saharan Africa, a very large proportion of the breast cancer patients
are young and surprisingly many breast cancer patients in Ethiopia are men.
This raises the suspicion that genetic mutations may play an important role
in breast cancer development in this part of the world. At the same time,
patients often present late when cure is not possible. The projects will
provide important new knowledge that shall be used in the development of
strategies for early detection and prevention.
Research group: Vascular Surgery [1]
Global Surgery [2]
[1] https://ki.se/en/mmk/vascular-surgery
[2] https://ki.se/en/mmk/global-surgery
Articles
- Article: PLOS ONE. 2019;14(7):e0219601