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Bergthor Björnsson

Tumor diseases of the liver and pancreas create great suffering for both patients and relatives. The overall goal of my research is to improve the care of this patient group.

Liver and pancreatic tumors

The research I conduct is largely based on collaborations in various networks. After my defense in 2014, I ran a randomized trial at US where the value of minimally invasive pancreatic surgery was evaluated. At the same time, our unit led a multicenter and multinational study comparing different liver surgeries. It became clear that to tackle the larger clinical issues, large networks are needed. Therefore, I participate in the research for clinical projects described below.

Translational research often requires closer collaboration than clinical research and there can be difficulties with large distances. Therefore, the translational part of my research is mainly conducted in collaboration with other researchers at LiU.

Publications

2024

Catherine H. Davis, Simone Augustinus, Nine de Graaf, Ulrich F. Wellner, Karin Johansen, Bodil Andersson, Joal D. Beane, Bergthor Björnsson, Olivier R. Busch, Elizabeth M. Gleeson, Hjalmar C. van Santvoort, Bobby Tingstedt, Caroline Williamsson, Tobias Keck, Marc G. Besselink, Bas Groot Koerkamp, Henry A. Pitt (2024) Impact of Neoadjuvant Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer: Transatlantic Trend and Postoperative Outcomes Analysis Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Vol. 238, p. 613-621 Continue to DOI
Bas A. Uijterwijk, Daniel H. Lemmers, Michele Ghidini, Johanna W. Wilmink, Alberto Zaniboni, Giuseppe Kito Fusai, Alessandro Zerbi, Bas Groot Koerkamp, Misha Luyer, Poya Ghorbani, Roberto Salvia, Steven White, Benedetto Ielpo, Brian K. P. Goh, Ugo Boggi, Geert Kazemier, Michael G. House, Vasileios K. Mavroeidis, Bergthor Björnsson, Michele Mazzola, Mario Serradilla, Dimitris Korkolis, Adnan Alseidi, Keith J. Roberts, Zahir Soonawalla, Patrick Pessaux, William E. Fisher, Sharnice Koek, Tara S. Kent, Miljana Vladimirov, Louisa Bolm, Nigel Jamieson, Raffaele Dalla Valle, Jorg Kleeff, Alessandro Mazzotta, Miguel Angel Suarez Munoz, Santiago Sanchez Cabus, Chad G. Ball, Adam C. Berger, Clarissa Ferarri, Marc G. Besselink, Mohammed Abu Hilal (2024) The road to tailored adjuvant chemotherapy for all four non-pancreatic periampullary cancers: An international multimethod cohort study British Journal of Cancer Continue to DOI
Babette I. Kuiper, Mohammad Abu Hilal, Luca A. Aldrighetti, Bergthor Björnsson, Mathieu D'hondt, Cristina Dopazo, Asmund A. Fretland, Helena Isoniemi, J. Philip Jonas, Geert Kazemier, Mickael Lesurtel, John Primrose, Andreas A. Schnitzbauer, Tineke Buffart, Birgit Gruenberger, Rutger-Jan Swijnenburg, Thomas Gruenberger (2024) Pan-European survey on current treatment strategies in patients with upfront resectable colorectal liver metastases HPB, Vol. 26, p. 639-647 Continue to DOI
Nuria Lluis, Shunsuke Onoe, Mario Serradilla-Martin, Mar Achalandabaso, Takashi Mizuno, Francois Jehaes, Bobby V. M. Dasari, Sara Mambrilla-Herrero, Ernesto Sparrelid, Anita Balakrishnan, Frederik J. H. Hoogwater, Maria J. Amaral, Bodil Andersson, Frederik Berrevoet, Alexandre Doussot, Victor Lopez-Lopez, Olivier Detry, Carlos Domingo-del Pozo, Nikolaos Machairas, Damjan Pekli, Candido F. Alcazar-Lopez, Horacio Asbun, Bergthor Björnsson, Thalis Christophides, Alberto Diez-Caballero, David Francart, Colin B. Noel, Donzilia Sousa-Silva, Enrique Toledo-Martinez, George N. Tzimas, Sheraz Yaqub, Junpei Yamaguchi, Safi Dokmak, Mikel Prieto-Calvo, Melroy A. D'Souza, Harry V. M. Spiers, Marius C. van den Heuvel, Ramon Charco, Mickael Lesurtel, Tomoki Ebata, Jose M. Ramia (2024) Intraductal papillary neoplasms of the bile ducts: a comparative study of a rare disease in Europe and Nagoya, Japan HPB, Vol. 26, p. 565-575 Continue to DOI
Tess M. E. van Ramshorst, Jony van Hilst, Ugo Boggi, Safi Dokmak, Bjorn Edwin, Tobias Keck, Igor Khatkov, Alberto Balduzzi, Alessandra Pulvirenti, Jawad Ahmad, Hani Al Saati, Adnan Alseidi, Fabio Ausania, Juan S. Azagra, Gianpaolo Balzano, Bergthor Björnsson, Fatih M. Can, Umberto Cillo, Mathieu D'Hondt, Mikhail Efanov, Mert Erkan, Francisco Espin Alvarez, Alessandro Esposito, Giovanni Ferrari, Bas Groot Koerkamp, Andrew A. Gumbs, Melissa E. Hogg, Benedetto Ielpo, Arpad Ivanecz, Jin-Young Jang, Dyre Kleive, David A. Kooby, Misha D. P. Luyer, Giovanni Marchegiani, Krishna Menon, I. Quintus Molenaar, Yuichi Nagakawa, Masafumi Nakamura, Diego Palumbo, Tullio Piardi, Jose M. Ramia, Olivier Saint-Marc, George I Salti, Oliver Strobel, Charles M. Vollmer, Alice C. Wei, Steve White, Yoo-Seok Yoon, Alessandro Zerbi, Claudio Bassi, Frederik Berrevoet, Carlos Chan, Felipe J. Coimbra, Kevin C. P. Conlon, Christos Dervenis, Massimo Falconi, Isabella Frigerio, Giuseppe K. Fusai, Michelle L. De Oliveira, Antonio D. Pinna, John N. Primrose, Alain Sauvanet, Alejandro Serrablo, Sameer Smadi, Sergio Alfieri, Stefano Berti, Giovanni Butturini, Riccardo Casadei, Roberto Coppola, Fabrizio Di Benedetto, Giuseppe M. Ettorre, Felice Giuliante, Elio Jovine, Riccardo Memeo, Andrea Pietrabissa, Nazario Portolani, Roberto Salvia, Ajith K. Siriwardena, Horacio J. Asbun, Marc G. Besselink, Mohammad Abu Hilal (2024) Standardizing definitions and terminology of left-sided pancreatic resections through an international Delphi consensus British Journal of Surgery, Vol. 111, Article znae039 Continue to DOI

Research

Liver and pancreatic tumors

The research I conduct can be divided into clinical projects and trials where the aim is to improve care for today's patients within a short time and translational projects where the aim is to increase knowledge and understanding of underlying mechanisms.

Clinical projects

In the DRAGON network, we investigate methods to stimulate liver growth with as little intervention as possible. The core of the method being explored is that in addition to embolization of the portal vein, the hepatic vein(s) are also embolized to increase growth of the liver that can be left behind during surgery.

The DIPLOMA studies are about comparing the minimally invasive surgical method for pancreatic tumors with the classic open operations to ensure the introduction and expansion of minimally invasive pancreatic surgery. Within the same area is E-MIPS, the European registry for minimally invasive pancreatic surgery.

The ISGACA collaboration focuses on the management of tumors in the bile duct, its mouth and in the duodenum. A number of retrospective multicenter studies have already been done and the prospective ADAPTA study will investigate the choice of chemotherapy for tumors in the bile duct mouth.

The NorPact collaboration is investigating the value of pretreatment with chemotherapy before surgery for pancreatic cancer. Results of a prospective randomized trial are expected shortly.

In the ScanPan project, which is a Nordic collaboration starting from Linköping, clinical research in liver and pancreas areas meets where the value of treatment in pancreatic cancer that has spread (to the liver) is investigated.

 

Translational projects

Zebrafish embryos are used to investigate tumor characteristics in colon cancer, liver metastases (daughter tumors) and pancreatic cancer. The overall goal of these studies is to be able to provide more targeted chemotherapy based on the individual patient's tumor. The collaboration with basic research is with Lasse Jansen.
The liver's propensity to receive daughter tumors from colon and rectal cancer and pancreatic cancer is investigated in a project run in collaboration with Linda Bojmar.

I am a member of Bojmar Lab

Organisation