MHB statistician Sander Roberti gains doctorate in Amsterdam

Neuruppin, 6 December 2024

Sander Roberti, statistician at the MHB Institute of Biostatistics and Registry Research and the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, defended his doctoral thesis entitled "Predicting breast cancer among Hodgkin lymphoma survivors using radiotherapy dose distributions: estimating risks of modern treatments from historic data" at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam on 23 October 2024. His mentor Prof. Dr. Michael Hauptmann, head of the MHB institute and of the Center for Clinical Studies, was part of the 9-member committee to whom he successfully presented his work in a 1-hour ceremony. Dr. Roberti developed a breast cancer risk prediction model for women treated with chest radiation for Hodgkin lymphoma. The risk in these cases is significantly higher for 10 to 30 years after treatment.   

The same as with all prediction models for late effects of cancer therapy, Dr. Roberti also used data of patients treated a long time ago to monitor the endpoint in breast cancer. His model is the first to use radiation doses on various thoracic segments, and therefore better suited to predict the effects of modern radiation therapy compared to conventional models based on tumor dose or median RT dose. The past decades have seen notable changes in terms of dose distribution to healthy tissue surrounding a tumor. An online risk calculator serves to calculate the breast cancer risk.

Partners in the cooperation project are MHB, Netherlands Cancer Institute (Amsterdam, Netherlands), National Cancer Institute (Bethesda, USA), Erasmus Medical Center (Rotterdam, Netherlands), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis, USA) and the radiotherapy department of Universitätsklinikum Brandenburg-Ruppin (ukrb) directed by Dr. Andre Buchali.

The following five publications describe findings from the project funded by the Dutch Cancer Society:

Roberti S, Van Leeuwen FE, Hauptmann M (joint senior author), Pfeiffer RM. Building absolute breast cancer risk prediction models for women treated with chest radiation for Hodgkin lymphoma. J R Stat Soc Ser C Appl Stat. In press.

Roberti S, Russell NS, Pfeiffer RM, Krul IM, De Vathaire F, Veres C, Diallo I, Janus CP, Penninkhof J, Vernhout R, Buchali A, Blank E, Van Leeuwen FE, Hauptmann M. Predicted breast cancer risk among patients treated for Hodgkin lymphoma with modern radiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. In press.

Roberti S, Van Leeuwen FE, Diallo I, De Vathaire F, Schaapveld M, Leisenring WM, Howell RM, Armstrong GT, Moskowitz CS, Smith SA, Aleman BM, Krul IM, Russell NS, Pfeiffer RM (joint senior author), Hauptmann M. Prediction of breast cancer risk for adolescents and young adults with Hodgkin lymphoma. J Natl Cancer Inst. In press.

Roberti S, Van Leeuwen FE, Ronckers CM, Krul IM, De Vathaire F, Veres C, Diallo I, Janus CP, Aleman BM, Russell NS, Hauptmann M. Radiotherapy-related dose and irradiated volume effects on breast cancer risk among Hodgkin lymphoma survivors. J Natl Cancer Inst 2022: 114(9): 1270-1278.

Roberti S, Van Leeuwen FE, Hauptmann M (joint senior author), Pfeiffer RM. Bias correction for estimates from linear excess relative risk models in small case-control studies. Stat Med 2021; 40(26): 5831-5852.