Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Associate Professor Hans Hagberg, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Second opponent: Professor Jan Oldenburg, Akershus University Hospital, Norway
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor II Kristine Yvonne Kathe Lindemann, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor emeritus Geir Erland Tjønnfjord, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Senior Consultant Alexander Fosså, University of Oslo
Summary
With current treatment, Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a curable disease. However, survivors live with increased risk of developing late effects. With increasing numbers of cancer survivors in general, survivorship care is a challenge for health care services.
We assessed late effects in a group of Norwegian Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivors treated after the introduction of risk-adapted treatment in the late 90s, changes that aimed to reduce risk of late effects yet maintaining high cure rates. More specifically, we wanted to study chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and chronic fatigue. In addition, we studied their general physicians’ knowledge of late effects and involvement in follow-up care.
The survivors had a higher neuropathy burden than a control group, more so in females and individuals with more comorbidities. The survivors also had a high prevalence of chronic fatigue (42%), which was associated with female sex, more comorbidities, obesity and lower education. Surprisingly we found no association between the level of treatment given and these two late effects.
The studied late effects negatively affected the survivor’s life quality. The survivors’ with chronic fatigue reported reduced work ability and more often received disability pension compared to non-fatigued survivors.
Despite introduction of risk-adapted therapy, Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivors suffer from late effects affecting their quality of life. Further studies on causality are called for.
The general practitioners were well-informed about late effects and involved in follow-up care, however they highlighted challenges regarding unclear guidelines and division of responsibility.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.