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- Ekwall, Eva, 1950-, et al.
(författare)
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The lived experience of life-prolonging treatment of recurring ovarian cancer
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There has been an improvement in the effectiveness of chemotherapy agents to restrain recurring ovarian cancer, such that women live with the disease for longer than they used to. However, there is a knowledge gap concerning how patients define their world from a lifeworld perspective, when living with life-prolonging treatment. The aim of the study was to illuminate the phenomenon of living with life-prolonging treatment of recurring ovarian cancer. Four women were interviewed twice, once in 2003, three years after the first recurrence, and again in 2005. The method was based on Giorgi’s phenomenological method. A situated structure for each woman was followed by a transformation into a general structure for all women, which communicates the most invariant meaning of the phenomenon.The general structure showed the growing threat to the women’s existence and their perception that time was short, yet extendable. Awareness of life’s limitedness evoked gratitude for the possibility to postpone death. The body’s strength was increasingly fragile and jeopardized the restraining of the disease. The amount of strength available was unpredictable, which meant a break in the rhythm of everyday life. Strength had to be captured and cared for.The wish to share the meaning of the disease with others was expressed as unattainable. The women were unable to realize the desire to be seen as an example of someone living with ongoing treatments. In encounters with other people, the cancer-afflicted body stood out as a barrier to communication. Inability to share their experience was also manifested in the women’s encounters with caregivers, which were characterized by an objective attitude. The women met with a gradual compliance their caregivers’ inability to respond to them.
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| 2. |
- Ekwall, Eva, 1950-, et al.
(författare)
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Women's perceptions of interactions with the health care team during treatment of the first recurrence of ovarian cancer
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Most women suffering a recurrence of ovarian cancer return to the same department where their primary cancer was treated. The aim of this study was to explore what women with the first recurrence of ovarian cancer perceived as important in their interaction with the healthcare team. Interviews were conducted with 12 women at the end of a chemotherapy treatment. The interviews were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The findings stress the importance for the healthcare team to offer each woman the opportunity to obtain support to become familiar with the disease. This theme of becoming familiar with the disease was supported by the following sub-themes: being confirmed as a person, getting help in making sense of information regarding the disease and its treatment, having the opportunity to be involved and share responsibility, and feeling confident that medical expertise is good enough.Becoming familiar with the disease was expressed as a process of understanding and assimilating the whole new situation. Optimal support from healthcare professionals was facilitated by establishing trusting relationships. Being confirmed and treated as a unique person was seen as a prerequisite to achieving familiarity with the disease. The women needed help to make sense of the information available. They stressed the importance of being able to influence their encounters with healthcare professionals in accordance with their own perspectives. Also of importance was having the opportunity to share the responsibility for their care and lives. The findings suggest that patients’ need should be identified repeatedly throughout the illness trajectory.
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| 3. |
- Bohr Mordhorst, Louise, 1958-
(författare)
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Predictive and prognostic factors in cervical carcinomas treated with (chemo-) radiotherapy
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A series of 131 women with cervical carcinoma FIGO stage I-IV were treated with external radiotherapy and intracavitary brachytherapy. In 47 patients (36%) concomitant chemotherapy was given. One hundred and twenty-one tumors (92%) achieved complete remission. Addition of chemotherapy increased primary cure rate to 98%. Tumor stage, tumor size, and histology were significant predictive factors for primary cure. Treatment related factors were: brachytherapy dose and interruption of irradiation.Thirty-nine recurrences (30%) were recorded. Tumor stage, histology, and concomitant chemotherapy were significant predictive factors.The 5-year cancer-specific survival rate of the complete series was 65%. Tumor size was a strong prognostic factor in multivariate analysis.Serum samples from 44 patients were analyzed. Ten candidate biomarker proteins with regard to tumor recurrences were identified.Five Hedgehog proteins were analyzed with immunohistochemistry. Residual tumor, local and distant recurrences and survival rate were associated with PTCH, SMO and GLI2. In the Wnt-β-catenin study intense staining of the membranes and nuclear staining > 5% were of significant predictive and prognostic value. Intense nuclear APC staining was associated with recurrences and cancer-specific survival rate.Conclusion: Histology, tumor size and brachytherapy dose were important clinical predictive and prognostic factors. Multiprotein analysis identified ten biomarker proteins associated with tumor recurrences. Three proteins (PTCH, SMO, and GLI2) in the Hedgehog pathway were of predictive and prognostic value. In the Wnt-β-catenin pathway intensity of β-catenin membrane staining and accumulation in the nuclei as well as nuclear APC-expression were of predictive and prognostic value.
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| 4. |
- Isaksson, Helena, 1978-
(författare)
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Clinical studies of RNA as a prognostic and diagnostic marker for disease
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Technologies for RNA detection are evolving rapidly and gives an op-portunity for discovery of new markers for early detection of complex diseases. Today in clinical work we rely on signs and symptoms in com-bination with the measurement of protein levels for diagnosis. The quick turnaround time of mRNA synthesis may provide an earlier diagnostic signal than protein-based biomarkers assays, in acute dramatic condi-tions such as acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI), for early detection of cancer, as prognostic tool in cancer treatment and as an aid in difficult diagnosis of unknown origin.The main goals of this thesis was to apply a whole genome approach to study different complex diseases to evaluate the applicability of RNA as a diagnostic or prognostic marker for disease, preferably from an easily accessible source such as peripheral blood. This was investigated in an animal model with induced AMI, a cohort of ovarian cancer patients and in a single-patient study of a girl with a severe inflammatory syn-drome.Through this thesis we have gained insight into how gene expression is regulated in ischemic intestinal tissue.We found that a peripheral blood test can distinguish between ovarian cancer patients with or without residual tumour mass after surgery with the help of expression analysis of six genes. We also found that gene expressions of three genes can predict overall survival in peripheral whole blood from ovarian cancer patients. And that gene expression profiles indeed can significantly distinguish between two groups of high and low risk ovarian cancer. In the single-patient study, we tried but failed to device a successful treatment before it was too late. Neverthe-less, the things we learned and the case studies that were published may serve as a diagnostic tool for clinicians facing similar syndromes.
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