PhD defence P.M.H. (Pieter) Nierop

Metastatic spread to the liver is often seen in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. In about one third of all CRC patients, colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) are found at some point in time. [1-4] A part of this patient population is ineligible for surgical/local treatment of the CRLM and only treatments aimed life prolongation remain. [1-4] As liver resection for CRLM became accepted as standard of care towards the end of the previous millennium, higher quantities of CRLM tissue became available as more resections were performed. In contrast to the decades before then, as the presence of CRLM was often posed as a contraindication for surgical treatment. Around this period it became noted by several unrelated groups that different patterns of tumour growth could be distinguished when reviewing CRLM under the microscope. [27, 28] The desmoplastic (d) histopathological growth pattern (HGP), the replacement (r) HGP and the pushing (p) HGP. [28] HGPs describe the manner of growth of a CRLM at transition border from metastasis to liver parenchyma. The current thesis describes several efforts to evaluate HGPs in terms of clinical applicability in patients undergoing surgical treatment of CRLM.

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.