29/09/2025
On Sept 22, 2025, Stepupiors Twinning coordinator Milena Cavic defended her MSc Thesis "Health economic evaluation of liquid biopsy in treatment decision management of patients with locally advanced re**al cancer in Serbia" at the Univerzitet u Beogradu, Medicinski fakultet Fakultet Organizacionih Nauka within Master of Science academic studies, Management in the healthcare system.
The thesis formed a crucial part of the project by assessing the technical, human and organizational capacities, as well as the first national liquid biopsy needs in the field of colore**al cancer. The obtained results showed that there is a strong network of interested parties with satisfactory human, infrastructure and organizational capacities for liquid biopsy analyses in Serbia. Using 8 patient-models derived from a real-world STEPUPIORS re**al cancer patient cohort showed that the application of liquid biopsy in this setting might prove to be cost-effective after careful patient sub-selection. A complete health-economic evaluation of the addition of ctDNA analysis in treatment management of patients with colore**al cancer is under way and might serve as a basis for updating national treatment guidelines for this cancer type.
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek IDIBAPS Biomedical Research Foundation Academy of Athens
