“Patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma are often diagnosed when they are quite young, around 25 to 30 years old, although the survival rate is relatively high nowadays. The condition can be effectively treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and many of these patients still have a life ahead of them after their diagnosis. However, the medications and radiation bring an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases or developing a second tumor later in life. I studied patients with a survival rate of at least five years after having received treatment anywhere between 1965 and 2000, and developed models to better assess the risk of cardiovascular diseases based on various characteristics. In another study, I found that the risk the men in this group face of developing breast cancer is twenty times higher than the general population. This means that this is important to take into account in aftercare. Thankfully, more is being done in this regard: there are BETTER clinics In the Netherlands nowadays that closely monitor and screen Hodgkin survivors. I have been working at the Zorginstituut for a few years now, where I contribute to decisions about which new medications should be reimbursed.”
Simone will defend her thesis on September 27th.
This study was financially supported by KWF Dutch Cancer Society.
prof. dr. ir. F.E. van Leeuwen
dr. B.M.P. Aleman & dr. M. Schaapveld