Sahar Salehi

About me

I am a surgeon and Director of ovarian cancer surgery at the department of Pelvic Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital and Assistant Professor at Lehti Group, MTC, Karolinska Institutet. 

In the clinic I focus on advanced ovarian cancer surgery as well as robot-assisted surgery for cervical and endometrial cancer. 

My research is both clinical and translational with focus on the effect of surgical treatment on outcome in ovarian, cervical and endometrial cancer

In the Falconer group, KBH, we examine oncologic outcomes related to surgical modality in cervical and endometrial cancer and surgical extent in advanced ovarian cancer. 

In the Lehti group, MTC, we examine how surgical treatment, the extent of surgery and local anesthetics affect mesothelial inflammation and tumor cell phenotype and functions in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Moreover, the effects of identified molecular pathways on aggressive tumour properties such as invasion and chemotherapy resistance of EOC cells are tested in functional ex vivo assays.

Research description

Coordinating investigator (PI) IPLA-OVCA trial (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04065009)

Co-investigator (Co-PI) RACC trial (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03719547), (http://racctrial.org)

Principal Investigator (PI) STOOVCA (Stockholm Ovarian Cancer Project) study group

Five selected publications

Ultra-radical upfront surgery does not improve survival in women with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer; a natural experiment in a complete population. Gynecologic oncology 2020; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090825820323842 

Falconer H, Joneborg U, Krawiec K, Palsdottir K, Bottai M, SALEHI S.

Intraperitoneal ropivacaine reduces time interval to initiation of chemotherapy after surgery for advanced ovarian cancer: randomised controlled double-blind pilot study. British journal of anaesthesia 2020 124;5 562-570 https://bjanaesthesia.org/article/S0007-0912(20)30095-7/fulltext 

Hayden JM, Oras J, Block L, Thörn SE, Palmqvist C, SALEHI S, Nordstrom JL, Gupta A

Surgery performed later in the week is associated with failure to achieve complete radical surgical resection in advanced ovarian cancer. Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) 2020 59;7 760-765 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0284186X.2020.1726456 

Palsdottir K, Joneborg U, Hasselgren E, Johansson H, SALEHI S

Pelvic Sentinel lymph node detection in High-Risk Endometrial Cancer (SHREC-trial)-the final step towards a paradigm shift in surgical staging. European journal of cancer 2019 116; 77-85 https://www.ejcancer.com/article/S0959-8049(19)30279-5/abstract 

Persson J, SALEHI S, Bollino M, Lonnerfors C, Falconer H, Geppert B.

Robot-assisted laparoscopy versus laparotomy for infrarenal paraaortic lymphadenectomy in women with high-risk endometrial cancer: A randomised controlled trial. European journal of cancer 2017 79; 81-89 https://www.ejcancer.com/article/S0959-8049(17)30877-8/abstract 

SALEHI S, Åvall-Lundqvist E, Legerstam B, Carlson JW, Falconer H

Education

1997-2003 Medical School at Karolinska Institutet

2003-2004 Internship Sunderby Hospital, Luleå, Sweden

2004-2009 Residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stockholm South General Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

2009 Board Certified Gynecologist

2010-2014 Subspecialist training in Gynecologic Oncology, Karolinska University Hospital

2015 Certified Surgical Gynecologic Oncologist

2018 PhD with thesis “Robot-assisted laparoscopy and sentinel node biopsy in high risk endometrial cancer”