Oncology Research & Tissue engineering
General introduction to research on oncologic reconstructions and tissue engineering
Research in Oncologic Reconstructive Surgery can be divided into clinical and experimental studies. All studies try to cope with the reality that, despite improved knowledge on aetiology and prevention of cancer, the incidence of malignant tumours in the Netherlands increases each year – in 2003 there were over 73,000 newly diagnosed tumours. Improved treatment options have led to decreased cancer mortality rates for most tumour types (14% decrease).
Paradoxically, however, the absolute number of cancer-related deaths has increased by 8%. Recently, cancer mortality rates in the Netherlands have overtaken cardiovascular-related mortality rates for the first time and have become the main cause of death. The increase in the numbers of newly diagnosed cancer patients caused an increased need for reconstructive surgery after primary surgical treatment of the tumour.
Tissue engineering
To improve current surgical therapies, the Tissue Engineering group of the department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is dedicated to develop new strategies for the repair of damaged soft tissues following trauma or disease. Typically, a patient’s own cells, and growth factors are combined in biodegradable three dimensional matrices to culture a soft tissue graft in vitro.
Our scientific approaches aim to contribute to our clinical work and include experimental studies on fat and mucosal tissue engineering, and clinical outcome studies. The research group consists of plastic surgeons, head and neck surgeons, maxillofacial surgeons, radiotherapists and biologists. We participate in the “Rotterdam Working Group on Head and Neck Tumours” of the Erasmus MC.
Focus
Main topics that are covered by our research are:
- Clinical Research in Breast Reconstruction
- Oral mucosa Tissue Engineering
- Adipocyte-derived Stem Cell Tissue Engineering