Conserving the breast by heating the tumour
Development of personalized MR-guided thermo-chemotherapy for breast conserving surgery (CARES)
For almost 1 in 3 women with breast cancer, chemotherapy is necessary to shrink the tumour to enable breastconserving surgery. If shrinking fails, the complete breast will have to be amputated.
The goal of the CARES programme is to have the chemotherapeutics encapsulated within tiny heat sensitive balls of fat. They also develop a magnetic resonance system to heat the tumour with high accuracy. In combination, these two approaches will ensure that the administered chemotherapeutics will mainly be released within the tumour itself. The higher drug concentration enhances tumour shrinkage, thereby decreasing the need for breast amputations.
NWO Perspectief
Perspectief is a programme of our parner, the Dutch Research Council (NWO), financed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK). This year’s budget amounts to 27 million euros, of which 23 million has been contributed by EZK and 4 million by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. A total of 115 companies, government bodies, and societal organisations are involved, contributing an additional 12 million euros. Over the upcoming years, the total budget supports the research of 106 scientists.
Programme leader
Dr. Sergio Curto (ErasmusMC)
Participating knowledge institutes
Amsterdam UMC, Eindhoven University of Technology, ErasmusMC, Heinrich Heine Düsseldorf, Kantonsspital Aarau – Kantonsspital Baden, Ludwig Maximilians University, UMC Utrecht, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
Companies
General Electric Healthcare, Lipoid, Philips, Sensius BV, Thermosome, Zurich MedTech
Other social partners
Borstkanker Onderzoek Groep, Catharina Ziekenhuis Eindhoven, Fontys, Gasthuiszusters Antwerpen, Iridium Network, Inholland, Swiss Hyperthermia Network
