PhD conferral Mr drs. Roel J.W. van Kampen

“Metastatic breast cancer: different aspects in real-world treatment and outcome”

The introduction of several new medicines has improved the prognosis of patients with metastatic breast cancer over recent years. However, these new medicines contribute to rising costs of oncology care. In addition, drug treatments may have side effects and, therefore, adversely affect quality of life. This thesis demonstrates that in daily practice, the quality of life of patients with metastatic breast cancer is determined by age and the presence of comorbidity rather than the duration of metastatic disease and the number of therapies given. It is also shown that the implementation of new medicines in daily practice differs from the implementation described in the guideline. Therefore, it is important that research is conducted into efficient use of oncology medicines in daily practice.