PhD defence C.A.I. (Casimir) Kouwenberg

In healthcare interventions should prolong life and/or increase quality of life (QoL). These two aspects, a longer life and a better quality of life, are combined in the outcome measure Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). Patients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer will generally focus on the first goal. They want to survive the cancer. After diagnosis, the first choice a patient with breast cancer and her surgeon together need to make is between breast conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy (breast conserving therapy, BCT) or mastectomy. If they opt for mastectomy, the patient will be presented with another choice, whether and how she wants her breast to be reconstructed. In the present thesis it was investigated what it means for the patient and society when a choice is made for one of these different treatment pathways.

The PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall at campus Woudestein or in the Professor Andries Querido Room at the Erasmus MC. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online.