Oncology

When first diagnosed with cancer, patients are often overwhelmed with emotions and have many questions concerning the extent of current disease and therapeutic options. Oncologic imaging helps those patients answer these questions, providing a clearer picture of what is happening in the body before, during and after treatment.

Oncology Imaging and Intervention.

The information provided by oncologic imaging helps guide oncologists, surgeons, and interventional radiologists in developing the most effective treatment plan possible.

Cancer imaging, or tumor imaging, allows physicians to.

Identify Tumor Properties and Growth
Tumor imaging allows physicians to accurately characterize a tumor’s extent and dissemination to select the treatment most likely to be effective based on the tumor’s characteristics.

Monitor Treatment
Imaging can provide prompt information about treatment effectiveness. For example, a CT, MRI or PET Scan allows physicians to see how the tumor was affected by the therapy within days of treatment.

Treat the Tumor
In Interventional Radiology (IR), our physicians can deliver chemoembolization (chemotherapy) directly to the tumor, decreasing exposure to healthy tissue (see our minimally invasive therapies section for more information on these procedures).

The Technology:
Diagnostic imaging technology is extremely varied. There are many types of scanners and each one is designed to achieve specific information. For this reason, there is no one perfect diagnostic tool. Often the technologies are most useful when used collaboratively so that one type or form of information makes another more meaningful.

Our oncology imaging services include.

Diagnosing, staging and restaging of various cancers, including but not limited to lymphoma, cancers of the head and neck, melanoma, lung, breast, colon and rectum, liver and prostate.
Determining the presence and size and spread of a tumor to assist with treatment planning
Identifying recurrences of cancer following chemotherapy, radiation or surgery
Evaluating the effectiveness of chemotherapy, radiation, surgery or medication

In addition to our oncology imaging services, Interventional Radiology (IR) plays an increasingly important role in treating patients with cancer. This role may start with initial diagnosis of cancer and extends into minimally invasive treatment of malignancy in appropriate cases. IR also assists in the management of the complications of malignancy, which may result from the cancer itself or secondary to treatment (e.g. bleeding). IR techniques can also be used to place central venous access devices (ports for chemotherapy). Therapeutic applications of IR in the oncology patient include local tumor treatments such as chemoembolization, as well as management of complications of malignancy, like pain, organ obstruction, and venous thrombosis.

Our team is characterized by a high level of expertise in oncological imaging. Our specialists Prof. Dr. Brechtel, Prof. Dr. Duda, Prof. Dr. Fenchel, Dr. Kämpf, Prof. Ketelsen and Dr. Trübenbach have gained extensive clinical experience in renowned university hospitals and have worked in an interdisciplinary setting for many years in supraregional tumor centers in order to be able to offer the best possible diagnostics for a wide range of tumor diseases and therapies.

We collaborate with colleagues from a wide range of disciplines at our inpatient locations in numerous tumor centers.