Improving outcomes in head and neck cancers.

Head and neck cancers (HNCs) continue to remain an important
public health burden worldwide, causing significant mortality and
morbidity despite significant clinical advances enabling their early
diagnosis and treatment. Radiotherapy (RT) is one of the most
effective treatment modalities used in up to 80% of HNC patients.
Technological advances in both radiotherapy and imaging have
greatly increased the precision of radiotherapy in recent years. The
aim of curative RT is to eliminate cancer cells while limiting damage
to normal tissues. Although local or locoregional tumor control can be
achieved in a large number of patients, there remains substantial
room for improvement since locoregional failure is the most important
cause of relapse in HNC patients. These relapses are often caused
by radioresistance or by uncertainties in volume delineation.
This project encompasses my professional ambition to first improve
current radiotherapy standards by tackling the issue of delineation
errors and interobserver variability, thereby reducing local
recurrences and improving prognosis in patients with head and neck
cancer. Optimization and automisation of the workflow will allow
smooth implementation of ART and protontherapy. Secondly,
investigate new therapeutic options based on improved knowledge of
tumor biology. More insight in tumor biology and specifically the
causes for radioresistance will provide us with new therapeutic
opportunities improving outcomes for our patients.