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Treatment at NCT

When patients with a newly diagnosed tumor of the esophagus or stomach present to our department, depending on which tests have already been done, further diagnostic examinations such as gastroscopy and/or endosonography (endoscopic ultrasound), CT examination, or bronchoscopy are performed and an assessment of accompanying diseases of the cardiac and circulatory system is made. Subsequently the findings are discussed in the interdisciplinary tumor board meeting by the medical oncology, gastroenterology, visceral surgery, radiation therapy, and radiology departments and, where appropriate, also with specialists from other disciplines; and a treatment recommendation is made. Further treatment then takes place in the different departments at Heidelberg University Hospital. If tumor-specific drug therapy is required, this is carried out in the NCT day care unit. The department also has a ward in which patients are monitored after having undergone endoscopic procedures, for example. In addition to those patients with a newly diagnosed disease, patients already being treated somewhere else can present themselves to our outpatient clinic for a second opinion.

Current clinical trials

Numerous studies on a wide range of tumor types and tumor stages are offered by the involved specialist disciplines. Several clinical studies are ongoing and open to participation in phases I/II/III at the Department of Medical Oncology at NCT for patients with esophageal and stomach cancer both in localized stages (as so-called perioperative treatment) and in metastatic disease.

Consultation sessions

Special consultation sessions are held several times a week in the Department of Medical Oncology at NCT for patients with tumors of the upper gastrointestinal tract (tumors of the esophagus and stomach). Where the findings indicate it is appropriate, referral is made to the colleagues in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Radiation Therapy or the Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery. In addition, dieticians, psycho-oncologists and colleagues from social services provide comprehensive support in coming to terms with the tumor diagnosis.