On Wednesday 18 September at 15.00, Mikkel Lundbech defends his PhD dissertation entitled "Coagulation and Fibrinolysis in Colorectal Cancer Surgery".

Patients undergoing surgery for cancer face an increased risk of blood clots. Colorectal cancer can usually be removed using laparoscopic surgery, which is considered to have a lower risk of blood clots compared to traditional open surgery. If colorectal cancer has spread to the peritoneum, selected patients can be offered curatively intended cytoreductive surgery where all visible cancer within the peritoneum is removed through open surgery.

Despite the different types of surgery and risks of blood clots, the same extended anticoagulant medication for 28 days is recommended for all colorectal cancer patients after surgery. This PhD project investigated whether cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC increases the risk of blood clots compared to laparoscopic surgery in colorectal cancer patients. We found that cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC increases blood clotting and thus raises the risk of blood clots more than laparoscopic surgery. The frequency of blood clots within 30 days after cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC was significantly higher than previously reported. We also observed that neither the extent of colorectal cancer spread to the peritoneum nor HIPEC itself had a significant effect on blood clotting.

The summary is written by the PhD student. 

The defence is public and takes place in auditorium G206-142, Entrance G, Aarhus University Hospital. Please see the press release for more information. 

Contact

PhD student Mikkel Lundbech
Mail: mikkln@clin.au.dk 
Phone: +45 50 55 45 34

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