Liver Cancer treatment in Germany
Best hospitals and doctors for liver cancer treatment in Germany
Leading hospitals
Cost for treatment
Not so long ago, patients with liver cancer had poor prognosis. However, with modern methods of treatment it is possible to stop the pathological process without causing harm to other organs.
Content
- Overview
- Diagnostics of liver cancer
- Surgery and chemotherapy
- Radiation therapy
- Targeted therapy
- Transarterial embolization
- Chemoembolization
- Alternative therapy
- The cost of treatment in Germany
- Undergoing treatment of liver cancer in Germany with Booking Health
Patients with stage 4 liver cancer receive targeted drugs and symptomatic treatment. Chemoembolization of metastatic foci can also be performed.
Liver cancer is treated with surgery, ablation and embolization, radiation therapy, chemo-, immuno- and targeted therapy.
Price for unilateral hepatectomy starts at €12,076. Cost of chemotherapy starts at €2,497. You can find other prices on our website.
The best hospitals for liver cancer treatment in Germany are:
- University Hospital Frankfurt am Main
- University Hospital of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
- Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch
- University Hospital Rechts der Isar Munich
- Clinic of Advanced Biological Medicine Frankfurt am Main
Overview
Liver cancer is the fifth most common malignant tumor in the world and the second most widespread disease causing death.
Male patients are affected two to three times more often than women. In numbers, this means that ten out of every 100,000 men develop liver cancer every year. The average age of patients is about 70 years.
Liver cancer can develop extremely slowly. Most liver cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage. That is why preventive examinations are so important, especially for patients at risk, namely patients with chronic infectious hepatitis B, fatty liver disease, and liver cirrhosis.
Secondary liver cancer affects the liver when it spreads from a primary tumor located in another organ. For example, in patients with colon cancer, metastases spread from the intestine to the liver in 75% of patients. Typical symptoms of liver metastases can be weight loss, weakness, or loss of appetite, but usually patients notice these symptoms only with the disease progression.
The earlier liver cancer is detected, the better the chances of a cure are.
Diagnostics of liver cancer
As a rule, patients come to German oncology hospitals with an already established diagnosis. In such cases, it is necessary to have with you all the available medical reports and the results of the studies performed. At the same time, a patient must know that the majority of medical examinations will be repeated since this is required by the policy of German hospitals.
As a rule, diagnostic examinations for patients with liver cancer in Germany include:
- Examination by the attending physician
- Laboratory tests
- MRI of the abdominal organs
- Positron emission tomography (search for metastases in other organs)
- Histological examination of the tumor (tumor tissue is harvested by the laparoscopic method or using a puncture biopsy)
Surgery and chemotherapy
The desired treatment effect can be achieved by the therapeutic scheme that includes methods of surgical removal of the primary tumor and chemotherapy. This combination is most in demand, given the low statistics of early diagnosis of liver cancer.
Chemotherapy is designed to consolidate the effect of surgery by acting on tumor cells that cannot be removed during surgery, as well as tumor loci that cannot be detected due to their small size.
The disadvantage of the chemotherapy method is its systemic effects, manifested by affection of the bone marrow, digestive tract organs, and skin appendages (hair loss, etc.).
In oncological hospitals in Germany, radiation therapy and chemotherapy in combination are used in the second and third stages of the disease. In such cases, the combined use of surgery and conservative methods of treatment significantly increases the chances of complete recovery, reducing the risk of tumor recurrence.
The success of the surgery significantly depends on the training of the surgeon and the technical support of the hospital. Minimally invasive laparoscopic liver resections are designed. It is laparoscopic surgery that is the basis for the complex treatment of liver cancer in many German hospitals.
Radiation therapy
The goal of the radiation therapy method is to treat tumors as efficiently and safely as possible while minimizing damage to adjacent healthy tissue and vital organs. To do this, specialists must estimate tumor peculiarities and draw up a treatment scheme using diagnostic imaging and planning. Then, using radiation therapy equipment, they target tumor with an individually calculated dose of radiation.
Increasing the dose of radiation can kill more liver cancer cells, but it also increases the risk of damaging adjacent healthy tissue. Therefore, targeted effect on the tumor and careful calculation of the radiation dose are extremely important for the safety and effectiveness of radiation therapy. Many of the current advances in radiation therapy method are based on adjusting and improving these two issues.
Liver cells are susceptible to the effects of ionizing radiation. Unfortunately, this characterizes not only malignant liver cells but also the entire organ, which makes the use of radiation treatment almost impossible. Proton therapy is an exception.
Unlike photon radiation therapy, protons act more accurately. The treatment of liver cancer with proton therapy is based on the property of the particles to give off maximum energy in the short final section of their path. By controlling the energy of the proton beam and its trajectory, the doctor can produce an effect at a clearly indicated point located within the tumor.
The most advanced proton therapy technology is pencil beam scanning. It is available for patients in Germany. It allows multiple beams to be successfully applied to different depths and different points in the body, affecting the tumor with a high dose of radiation.
Targeted therapy
In oncological hospitals in Germany, targeted therapy is widely used. This is the latest method of treatment of malignant tumors, which can slow down the disease at a progressive stage of tumor development.
The essence of the targeted therapy method is to target tumor cells, while chemotherapy and radiation therapy affect all rapidly proliferating tissues.
Specific drugs are prescribed for the treatment of liver cancer in Germany. They can stop the tumor growth even at the advanced stage of the disease, while not causing side effects and complications that are typical for chemotherapy.
Transarterial embolization
Transarterial embolization technology is used for the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancer.
Since external irradiation of the liver is not always possible due to its high risks (radiation hepatitis, fibrosis, and vascular damage) and questionable effectiveness, a solution was found. It includes conducting radiation therapy of the tumor from the inside, by the means of transarterial embolization.
For this, microspheres are used with the radioactive substance inside. Radioactive microspheres are placed exactly inside the hepatic tumor, for which selective catheterization of small arteries of each tumor focus is performed under the control of an angiography. The accuracy of the catheter insertion is controlled thoroughly.
Radioactive microspheres for transarterial embolization are manufactured individually for each patient and delivered to the clinic within a few hours. The dose of radioactivity in transarterial embolization is calculated based on the total tumor volume.
The patient stays in the hospital for 2-3 days after transarterial embolization. In the future, he undergoes follow-up tests using methods of radiological diagnostics (CT scan, MRI, ultrasound scan).
Chemoembolization
Chemoembolization is a combined method of treating malignant tumors that consists of local chemotherapy and tumor embolization (stopping blood flow in it, which has a therapeutic effect).
In the chemoembolization procedure, drugs with an antitumor effect are injected directly into the blood vessel feeding the malignant tumor. During chemoembolization, a synthetic substance called an embolizing material is injected into the vessel supplying the tumor, which keeps the chemotherapy drug inside the tumor.
As a result of the chemoembolization procedure, blockage of tumor vessels occurs and a high concentration of a chemotherapy drug is created in the tumor tissue, which has a focused local effect on cancer cells.
Chemoembolization procedure is not recommended for patients with severe hepatic or renal impairment, bleeding disorders, or bile duct obstruction. In some patients, a chemoembolization procedure is performed despite liver dysfunction. In this case, a smaller dose of drugs is used, and the chemoembolization procedure is divided into several stages in order to reduce the effect on healthy liver tissue.
Alternative therapy
Germany is the world leader in the newest direction in oncology – the so-called complementary therapy, which is aimed at enabling the body to fight malignant tumors.
The methods of complementary therapy for liver cancer allow avoiding the development of complications during radiation and chemotherapy, significantly reduce the recovery period after the surgery, increase the effectiveness of therapy, and increase the duration of the relapse-free period.
The cost of treatment in Germany
Oncologists in Germany are world-class professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer. German clinics are recognized for the quality of liver cancer treatment among other European countries. Steady increase in the number of cured patients or patients who have entered remission is connected with the fruitful cooperation of specialists from various German oncology centers, as well as a large number of its own research and innovative pharmacological developments.
The price for treatment in Germany for liver cancer depends on the stage of the disease and the price of corresponding prescribed treatment, i.e. surgical, conservative, radiation therapy:
- The cost of unilateral hepatectomy for liver cancer is between 15,450 EUR and 31,400 EUR.
- The cost of chemotherapy for liver cancer is between 7,300 EUR and 8,000 EUR.
- The cost of percutaneous embolization (coiling) for liver cancer is between 24,200 EUR and 40,900 EUR.
The average price of rehabilitation after liver cancer treatment in Germany is 1,190 EUR per day, the minimum price is 1,041 EUR per day, and the maximum price is 1,553 EUR per day.
Undergoing treatment of liver cancer in Germany with Booking Health
Liver cancer is a relatively rare disease, but its poor prognosis makes it one of the ten most common causes of death. Fortunately, modern medical developments allow German physicians to successfully treat patients with liver cancer even at advanced stages.
In medical institutions in Germany, surgery (including laparoscopic), chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and innovative treatment methods are actively and successfully used. The main share of success in the treatment of liver cancer in Germany falls on the competent and individual preparation of the treatment scheme. It usually includes a combination of various treatment methods, new anti-cancer drugs, and improved methods of chemotherapy.
Booking Health can organize the diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer in Germany, taking care of all organizational issues, from the translation of medical reports to visa issuing and flight and accommodation booking.
If you are interested in the opportunity to undergo treatment of liver cancer in Germany, you just need to fill out an application form on the Booking Health website. Booking Health specialist will contact you and help you choose the best hospital and/or doctor for your diagnosis.
Authors:
The article was edited by medical experts, board-certified doctors Dr. Nadezhda Ivanisova and Dr. Sergey Pashchenko. For the treatment of the conditions referred to in the article, you must consult a doctor; the information in the article is not intended for self-medication!
The article was reviewed by an expert in the field of medicine Prof. Dr. med. Karl Jürgen Oldhafer
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