Cancer of unknown primary origin (CUP) is a rare disease where malignant cells are found in the body but the original site of the cancer cannot be identified. To improve the treatment of CUP, a Hanarth fonds grant was awarded to Martijn van Oijen, Associate Professor in Medical Oncology at the Cancer Center Amsterdam. The aim of his project is to develop and evaluate practical clinical decision tools created by artificial intelligence (AI) for patients with CUP, based on the study of metastatic patterns augmented by biomarker information.

The researchers will use data from the nationwide network and registry of histo- and cytopathology in the Netherlands (PALGA), machine learning and natural language processing algorithms to identify metastatic patterns from patients with a known primary tumor, in order to provide insights for patients with cancer of unknown primary.

Principle investigators of this study are Prof. Dr. Iris Nagtegaal (Radboud UMC) & Dr. Martijn van Oijen (Amsterdam UMC)

Martijn van Oijen Martijn van Oijen

In close collaboration with PacMed, Amsterdam.