Jakob Kirkegård
Improving Survival for Pancreatic Cancer Patients
Jakob Kirkegaard, Department of Surgery at Aarhus University Hospital, has received a Lundbeck Foundation Early-Career Clinician Scientist grant worth DKK 687.500.
About the project
Pancreatic cancer has a dismal prognosis with a 5-year survival of 5-8%, mainly due to few and unspecific symptoms at curable stages. Consequently, more than half of the patients are diagnosed when distant metastases are present and surgery, which is perceived as the only chance for cure, is impossible.
Given that pancreatic cancer surgery is an extensive surgical procedure with a mortality of 2-3% and a 30% risk of major complications, there is an urgent need for better evidence for the true treatment effect of surgery; improved preoperative assessment of patients eligible for surgery; and more knowledge on prognostic factors after surgery.
In this project, Jakob Kirkegaard and colleagues will conduct four work packages (WPs) to improve the consulting doctors’ possibilities to better inform patients about optimal treatment options.
This will be done in three steps; by estimating the true effect of surgery compared to chemotherapy based on recently developed analytical methods. By conducting a randomized controlled trial assessing the use of MR scans to detect liver metastases. And finally, by examining the effect of preoperative blood-based biomarkers and interaction between age and comorbidity to predict the survival after surgery for pancreatic cancer.
