Image: Malin Grönborg
Research group We study how cancer patients feel during and after treatment and their experiences of treatment and care.
We study health-related quality of life and conduct clinical cancer studies. Our objective is to improve the results of treatment, reduce toxicity and side-effects and improve the patient’s quality of life. We also study the cost-effectiveness of various treatment methods in relation to the patient’s perceived health and return to work. By mapping the entire process from diagnosis until the end of life, we attempt to support the patient based on their own individual needs.
Each year in Sweden, over 60,000 people are diagnosed with cancer. In addition to physical symptoms and side-effects, cancer treatment may cause the patient psychosocial distress such as anxiety and depression. A cancer diagnosis can also have a negative impact on loved ones, who run the risk deteriorating health due to the cancer.
Both clinical experience and research demonstrates that patients do not always receive adequate support and assistance to alleviate symptoms. Systematic prospective follow-up of the patient’s self-reported problems and symptoms is a vital component of attempting to understand the patient’s experience of the disease, as well as any discomfort the treatment may cause.
We are conducting several projects that aim to improve care and treatment and reduce physical and psychological side-effects.
These include randomised controlled studies of the effects of various forms of radiotherapy, treatment-related side-effects and patients’ health-related quality of life. In another study, we are looking at men’s experiences of life-prolonging treatments for metastatic prostate cancer that no longer responds to hormone therapy.
Mistletoe Therapy in Primary and Recurrent Inoperable Pancreatic Cancer (MISTRAL) is a randomised, double-blind study in which we compare mistletoe extract with a placebo in patients. The study is intended to investigate whether a popular complementary therapy may be efficacious in the care of severely ill cancer patients.
Our national research group also evaluates toxicity and patient satisfaction during and after treatment at the Skandion Clinic in Uppsala, Sweden’s only clinic for proton beam therapy.
