– When you receive your cancer treatment as a patient, you are well taken care of, she says. Then, when it’s over, you’re sent home and many think “but now?”. Karen Ahlberg says: I felt we needed to know more about this.
Patients may wake up tired after falling asleep
She became a Registered Nurse in 1986 after completing an education focused on oncology care, i.e. cancer care. I immediately started working at the Jubilee Clinic at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, one of the largest oncology clinics in Sweden.
– For people to donate money – it’s really cool! What would cancer research look like without the Cancer Foundation?
Photo: Nick Johansson
When she wrote her doctoral thesis, Karen Ahlberg, who became a professor three years ago, chose to focus on the quality of life and well-being of cancer patients during and after radiotherapy.
– When I worked as a radiotherapy nurse, I saw in my daily life that patients were not feeling well. What we as healthcare professionals thought were simple treatments, we can see many symptoms appear afterwards.
– We must include patients – taking care of their needs, resources and experiences, she says.
Photo: Nick Johansson
Her dissertation focused on a group of patients with uterine cancer who received pelvic radiotherapy.
– About 90 percent of patients have diarrhea and 50 percent have pain. The majority suffer from extreme fatigue. At the same time, they were taken home and returned to daily life. We’ve been told for many years that “you can get a little tired.” But these patients can wake up exhausted after falling asleep.
– They also said they had, among other things, low self-esteem and reduced enthusiasm for life, which they linked to fatigue. I focused a lot on this tiredness called fatigue.
She pauses before adding:
– That’s how it started.
Compare symptoms during different types of radiation therapy
Today, after receiving several major grants from the Cancer Foundation, Karen Ahlberg has created a research group consisting mainly of nurses from different parts of the country studying how patients feel during different types of radiation therapy.
– She says: When I received the first scholarship, I was shocked. But what a joy! And receiving it from the Cancer Foundation was special. The competition is fierce and I also feel a great deal of respect because it is about the money that people have donated. This means a great responsibility.
When I received the first grant from the Cancer Foundation, I was shocked
Karin Ahlberg says the research project began in 2015. That’s when she opened the Skandion Clinic in Uppsala, the only clinic in Sweden that treats so-called proton radiation instead of the more common photon radiation.
– Theoretically, proton radiation gives a lower incidence of side effects and a lower degree. We wanted to compare these two treatment strategies.
Analyzes are still in progress, but preliminary results show no significant difference between the treatment approaches for the patients. New studies focusing on health economics are under way, as well as randomized studies of new patient groups and treatment modalities.
Photo: Nick Johansson
It is important to feel the best you can
Karen explains that the research is based on how patients themselves experience their health and care.
– In order to cope with treatment, it is important that you feel as best as you can. As a nurse, it is one’s responsibility to prevent ill health and disease. By strengthening the patient to cope with their medical treatment, you avoid, for example, discontinuation of treatment due to side effects.
– We must include patients – taking care of their needs, resources and experiences. In our research, most of the data is reported by the patient.
There is still a lot to learn
Karen and her research group are currently conducting a study with the goal of comparing how tired patients with brain tumors are in relation to the amount of brain radiation.
– Contrary to what we thought, we didn’t really find any clear links. But we will look further, for example, at biological explanations for the development of fatigue. Right now, we’re also running a study where, five years after treatment ends, we interview patients with previous brain tumors about how the disease and treatment changed their long-term lives a little bit.
–Karen concludes that there is still a lot to be done to improve patients’ lives with regard to radiotherapy.
Different types of radiation
- Radiation has been used as a treatment for tumors since the beginning of the 20th century. The most common radiation is photon radiation, but nowadays there is also proton radiation therapy. In Uppsala it is possible to receive treatment at the first proton radiation clinic in the North, Scandion Clinic.
- Photon radiation consists of the same energy as sunlight, but has a higher energy. Photon radiation also affects healthy organs on its way in and out of the body.
- Proton radiation consists of positively charged hydrogen ions produced in an accelerator. The energy in proton radiation can be varied so that the radiation dose generally ends at a certain predetermined depth without harming important organs as it exits the body. Proton beam therapy can be more precisely controlled than conventional radiation using photons, which may reduce the risk of side effects.
- In some oncological diseases – and in some patients – proton radiation is a good treatment option. For example, when the tumor is in or near radiation-sensitive organs such as the brain or spinal cord.
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