The program includes:
- Initial presentation in the clinic
- clinical history taking
- review of medical records
- physical examination
- laboratory tests:
- complete blood count
- general urine analysis
- biochemical analysis of blood
- TSH-basal, fT3, fT4
- tumor markers
- inflammation indicators
- indicators of blood coagulation
- CT / MRI of the abdomen and retroperitoneum
- abdominal and retroperitoneal ultrasound scan
- full curse of radiotherapy
- nursing services
- consultations of related specialists
- explanation of individual treatment plan
How program is carried out
During the first visit, the doctor will conduct a clinical examination and go through the results of previous laboratory tests and instrumental examinations. After that, you will undergo an additional examination, including complete blood count, laboratory assessment of liver and kidney function. Based on the received results, the physician will conduct radiotherapy planning with the help of CT or MRI, make the permanent tattoo marks on the skin and conduct CT simulation in order to assess the accuracy of the rays and the radiation dose. If necessary, related medical specialists will be involved in the elaboration of a treatment regimen (tumor board).
Radiation therapy is carried out as the day hospital procedure, without mandatory admission to the hospital. At each visit, the physician will assess your general condition and the marks on the skin. After that, you will be placed in a shielded radiation therapy room, on a special table.
Each radiation therapy session lasts less than half an hour (including preparation). All this time, doctors and nurses are monitoring your condition, you can communicate with them through a loudspeaker. The procedure is completely painless. Depending on the planned course of treatment, you will visit the hospital from 1 to 3-5 times a week.
After the completion of the radiation therapy course, you will undergo control examinations aimed at assessing your condition and efficacy of treatment. After that you will receive the medical report with detailed recommendations regarding further follow-up and treatment. In the future, you will be able to have a distant consultation with your attending physician and schedule the next course of treatment, if necessary.
Required documents
- Medical records
- MRI/CT scan (not older than 3 months)
- Biopsy results (if available)
Service
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About the department
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Adult and Pediatric Radiation Therapy at the University Hospital Halle (Saale) ranks among the top German medical facilities specializing in radiation therapy!
The department offers all types of radiation therapy for the treatment of various oncological diseases at the highest level of university medicine. The cancer patients are treated in modern rooms equipped with the state-of-art technology. In many cases, the radiation therapy is carried out on an outpatient basis. The therapeutic options are complemented with psycho-oncological and palliative care. The department is headed by Prof. Dr. med. Dirk Vordermark.
Radiation therapy planning is carried out in a computerized planning system, which displays the data of all linear accelerators available at the university hospital. The results of CT examinations are the basis for creating a radiation therapy program. The doctor notes the required amount of radiation on the tomogram, sets the dose, as well as the maximum permissible load on critical organs, such as lungs, kidneys and spinal cord. Then specially trained medical physicists develop an individual irradiation plan (a physical one). All therapeutic activities provided in the department comply with the requirements of the German Society of Radiation Oncology and the German Cancer Society.
The department specializes in radiation therapy for the following diseases:
- Breast cancer
- Lung cancer
- Brain tumors
- Bladder cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Head and neck tumors (cancer of the mouth, pharynx and larynx)
- Rectal and anal cancer (bowel cancer)
- Malignant systemic diseases (lymphomas and leukemias)
- Tumors in children and adolescents
- Sarcomas
- Gynecologic tumors (uterine and vaginal cancers)
- Other malignant diseases
The therapeutic range of the department includes:
- Intensity-modulated radiation therapy
- Stereotactic radiation therapy/brain tumor radiosurgery
- Stereotactic radiation therapy in lung tumors
- Stereotactic radiation therapy in liver tumors
- Concurrent chemoradiation therapy
- Brachytherapy
- Deep inspiration breath hold (radiation therapy technique with concurrent limitation of cardiac and lung irradiation, which is mainly used for the treatment of left‐sided breast cancer)
- Other types of radiation therapy
Curriculum vitae
- 10.1990 - 09.1995 Study of Medicine at the Medical University of Lübeck.
- 10.1995 - 10.1996 Study of Medicine (one-year practice) at the University of Ulm with special courses in Goppingen (Internal Medicine), Zurich (Surgery) and Pretoria/South Africa (Radiology and Radiation Therapy).
- 12.1996 - 12.2000 Intern and Research Fellow in the Department of Radiation Therapy at the University Hospital Würzburg (Head: Prof. Dr. med. M. Flentje).
- 01.2001 - 12.2001 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Oncobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Head: Prof. J. M. Braun), Scholarship of the German Research Foundation.
- Since 01.2002 Continuation of work as a Research Fellow in the Department of Radiation Therapy at the University Hospital Würzburg.
- 15.10.2003 Board certification in Radiation Therapy, appointment to the position of a Senior Physician.
- 08.11.2004 Doctoral thesis in Radiation Therapy and Venia legendi (PD).
- Since 2008 Head of the Department of Adult and Pediatric Radiation Therapy at the University Hospital Halle (Saale) and W3 Professor.
- Since 2011 Additional activities at the Medical Center (MVZ) at the University Hospital Halle (Saale).
- 2012 - 2018 Deputy Dean for Research, Faculty of Medicine.
- 2013 - 2018 Representative of the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.
Graduation Thesis
- "Bradykinin metabolism in epithelial cells of cattle trachea" (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. med. P. Dominiak, Director of the Institute of Pharmacology, Medical University of Lübeck).
Habilitation
- "The effect of acute and chronic hypoxia on the radiation resistance of human tumor cells: researches using HIF-1 dependent markers of endogenous hypoxia" in the specialty "Radiation Therapy" at the University of Würzburg.
Clinical Focuses
- High-precision radiation therapy (radiosurgery and fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy) of brain and body tumors (lungs, liver, spine, etc.).
- Neuro-oncology.
- Urologic oncology (intensity modulated radiation therapy, high- and low-dose brachytherapy in prostate cancer).
- Radiation therapy for lung, gastrointestinal, gynecological and skin tumors.
- Palliative radiation therapy.
- Combined chemoradiation therapy.
Research Focuses
- Side effects, long-term effects, quality of life after radiation therapy.
- Geriatric oncology.
- Radiation oncology and oncobiology (tumor microenvironment, tumor oxygenation, markers of hypoxic radiation resistance, targeting, immuno-oncology): molecular beam biology and translational researches.
- Neuro-oncology, including high-precision radiation therapy in brain tumors.
- Pediatric radiation oncology (especially Hodgkin's lymphoma).
- Urologic oncology (especially prostate cancer), including brachytherapy.
- Gynecologic oncology.
- Dermato-oncology.
- Palliative radiation therapy.
- Supportive therapy.
- Healthcare research in radiation oncology.
- Evidence based medicine.
Membership in Scientific Societies
- Member of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO).
- German Society of Radiation Oncology (DEGRO).
- German Cancer Society (DKG).
- Working Group on Radiation Oncology (ARO) of the German Cancer Society.
- Commission "Uterus" of the Working Group on Gynecology (AGO) of the German Cancer Society.
- Working Group on Neuro-Oncology (NOA) of the German Cancer Society.
- Association of Onco-Pulmonologists (POA) of the German Cancer Society.
- Society for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology (GPOH).
- Association of Pediatric Radiation Oncology (APRO) of the Society for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology.
Awards and Scholarships
- 1998 Otto Roth Prize of the Society of Friends and Sponsors of the University of Lübeck (for the thesis).
- 1998 Poster Prize of the German Society of Radiation Oncology (DEGRO) for the poster presentation "Definitive radio- (chemo-) therapy for anal canal cancer: restoration of function and quality of life".
- 2001 Scholarship of the German Research Foundation (Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University).
- 2002 Scholarship of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) for the training in the course "Prostate Brachytherapy".
- 2004 Hermann Holthusen Prize of the German Society for Radiation Oncology (for doctoral thesis).
- 2005 Varian Clinical Research Award of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) for the series of works "Molecular Markers of Tumor Hypoxia".
- 2006 Poster Prize of the Hanns Langendorff Foundation in collaboration with the DEGRO Congress.
Review Activities in Medical Journals
- Editor of the Column "Medical and Radiation Oncology" in the BMC Cancer.
- Editorial Board Member of Radiotherapy & Oncology Journal.
- Editorial Board Member of the Radiation Oncology Journal.
- Editorial Board Member of the Strahlentherapie & Onkologie Journal.
Review Activities in Research Funding Organizations
- German Research Foundation.
- German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe).
- German Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
- Wilhelm Zander Foundation.
- Organisation for Health Research and Development, the Netherlands.
- Research Organization, the Netherlands.
- Swiss National Science Foundation.
Photo of the doctor: (c) Universitätsklinikum Halle (Saale)
About hospital
According to the prestigious Focus magazine, the University Hospital Halle (Saale) ranks among the top German medical facilities!
The history of the hospital has more than 300 years, and during this time it managed to earn an excellent reputation not only in Germany, but throughout the world. The hospital positions itself as a specialized medical facility for the treatment of very severe and rare diseases and injuries. It provides medical care for patients of all age groups in accordance with the very latest scientific achievements. It is worth noting that the hospital is characterized by its successful research activities, especially in the field of cardiovascular diseases and oncopathology. The specialists of these fields have made a significant contribution to the development of new diagnostic methods and therapeutic approaches.
The hospital diagnoses and treats more than 40,000 inpatients and about 120,000 outpatients every year. Such a large number of patients indicates the reliability and effectiveness of medical services.
Some structural units of the hospital deserve special attention. For example, the Central Department of Emergency Medical Care (the largest in Saxony-Anhalt), modern dental rooms, the Perinatal Center and the Transplant Center with a history of more than 40 years.
Thanks to the use of the cutting-edge medical technology and the availability of advanced equipment, many operations and procedures, which previously could entail a lot of risks and consequences, are currently performed in the hospital with the help of sparing techniques. In this context, it is worth noting hybrid heart interventions, robotic interventions in urology (da Vinci surgical system), etc.
In addition, the key to successful clinical practice is the availability in the hospital of experienced and competent medical staff. The total number of medical staff includes more than 4,000 medical employees. Many doctors are known far beyond the borders of Germany, they regularly carry out significant researches, which allow them to develop modern medicine. In addition, the hospital specializes in training of medical students, therefore the qualified doctors and professors are willing to pass on their experience to the younger generation.
Photo: (c) depositphotos
Accommodation in hospital
Patients rooms
The patients of the University Hospital Halle (Saale) live in comfortable single, double and triple patient rooms made in a modern design. All patient rooms are equipped with an ensuite bath with toilet and shower. The standard room includes a comfortable, automatically adjustable bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe, a table and chairs for receiving visitors and a TV. There is access to Wi-Fi. For security reasons, in some places, including in Intensive Care Units, it is forbidden to use laptops and mobile phones. In addition, the hospital offers enhanced-comfort patient rooms.
Meals and Menus
The patient and his accompanying person have a daily choice of three menus. If for any reason you do not eat all the food, you will be offered an individual menu. Please inform the medical staff about your dietary preferences prior to the treatment. Children are offered a special menu with healthy and tasty dishes, rich in nutrients necessary for the growing body.
Further details
Standard rooms include:
Religion
Religious services are available upon request.
Accompanying person
During the inpatient program, an accompanying person may stay with you in a patient room or hotel of your choice.
Hotel
During the outpatient program, you may stay in a hotel of your choice. Managers will help you choose the most suitable options.