PhD defence: Peter Blak Hjort
Disease Trajectories in Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer - From Detection to Long-Term Outcomes
Info about event
Time
Location
Auditorium C114-101, Aarhus University Hospital
On Thursday 10 September 2026 at 14:30, Peter Blak Hjort defends his PhD dissertation entitled “Disease Trajectories in Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer - From Detection to Long-Term Outcomes”.
Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, with a high incidence in the Western world, and is classified as non-muscle-invasive and muscle invasive bladder cancer based on the depth of invasion. Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer constitutes approximately 75% of all cases. Diagnosis relies heavily on white light cystoscopy, which has relatively low sensitivity, ranging from 60 to 80%. Artificial intelligence has been proposed to improve cystoscopic detection.
Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer is characterized by high recurrence rates and variable progression risk, placing a substantial burden on patients and healthcare systems. Understanding the long-term risks for patients and being able to predict disease trajectories is essential for optimizing patient management.
In the PhD project, a novel AI-support tool for tumor detection during cystoscopy was investigated. The results showed that it was feasible to develop and safe to use in the clinic with non-inferior sensitivity compared to white light cystoscopy. Furthermore, two register-based studies investigated the long-term outcomes of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Generally, recurrence and progression is decreasing and early recurrences may be associated with worse long-term outcomes. Finally, there is a persisting but low risk of recurrence and progression following a five-year recurrence-free interval.
The findings provide new knowledge of use of AI in bladder cancer diagnostics. Furthermore, the studies elucidated important aspect in long-term outcomes, which may contribute to future patient management.
The summary is written by the PhD student.
The defence is public and takes place in Auditorium C114-101, Aarhus University Hospital. Please see the press release for more information.
Contact
PhD student Peter Blak Hjort
Mail: petehj@rm.dk
Phone: +45 27647744