2 Oct 2024
The LMU Klinikum and the Asklepios Fachkliniken München Gauting are celebrating the anniversary on October 5 with the symposium "Lung cancer therapy at the highest level"
Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer worldwide. In Germany alone, over 56,000 people are diagnosed with it every year. Despite medical progress, less than a quarter are still alive after five years. This is where the Lung Tumor Center Munich comes in: Since 2014, the LMU Klinikum München and the Asklepios Lungenklinik Gauting - as a lung cancer center certified by the German Cancer Society - have been working closely together to treat over a thousand patients a year. Key elements include interdisciplinary collaboration between the various specialist disciplines and the development of targeted individual therapies. To mark the anniversary, a symposium will be held on Saturday, October 5, which will look at developments over the last decade and present future developments in the diagnosis and treatment of lung tumors.
The lung transplant center was founded in 2014 as a merger of the LMU Klinikum and the Asklepios Lungenklinik Gauting. Today, it is the largest lung cancer center in Bavaria certified by the German Cancer Society. In addition, the Asklepios Lung Clinic Gauting is also certified as a specialized center for pleural mesotheliomas, malignant diseases of the pleura. Over a thousand patients with lung tumors, tumors of the mediastinum and pleura are treated each year at the LMU Klinikum sites (Innenstadt and Großhadern) and the Asklepios Lungenklinik (Gauting) according to nationally and internationally recognized guidelines - from diagnostics to therapy and aftercare. The Lung Cancer Center is also an organ center within the structure of the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) of the University of Munich, which ensures basic scientific and translational research aspects of the Comprehensive Pneumology Center (CPC).
Close interdisciplinary cooperation
"We want to offer our patients excellent and personalized care in which the most modern therapies and the broadest possible psychosocial support are adapted to their individual situation," says Prof. Dr. Amanda Tufman, Head of the Lung Tumor Center at LMU Klinikum. "The specialties of our two clinics complement each other perfectly." Pulmonologists, pathologists, thoracic surgeons, oncologists, radiotherapists and nuclear medicine specialists from both clinics work closely together to develop tailored therapies and improve the chances of recovery. Among other things, they come together in weekly interdisciplinary lung tumor boards at all sites to discuss individual patient cases. Other cooperation partners include palliative medicine, psycho-oncology, nutritional counseling, physiotherapy and social services.
Innovations in lung tumor treatment
"Lung tumor diagnostics and therapy have developed rapidly over the last ten years and have become increasingly complex, but also increasingly effective," says Prof. Dr. Niels Reinmuth, Head of the Lung Tumor Center at the Asklepios Lung Clinic in Gauting. "These allow patients to enjoy a higher quality of life and survive longer." In recent years, the traditional therapeutic pillars of surgery, radiotherapy and systemic therapy have been increasingly combined and targeted diagnostic and therapeutic principles have been introduced into everyday clinical practice. These include, for example, immunotherapeutic procedures such as checkpoint inhibition. In combination with surgery or radiochemotherapy, these can increase the chances of recovery for patients with local or locally advanced tumors and increase survival from a few months to several years for advanced carcinomas. Patients who have a driver mutation, i.e. a change in the genetic material of a tumor that drives its growth, can now be treated with a tablet therapy. Unlike chemotherapy, this does not attack all of the body's cells, but rather the mutation in the tumor cell in order to inhibit its growth. This tablet therapy has fewer side effects than chemotherapy.
Specialist symposium "Lung cancer therapy at the highest level"
The developments of the last decade and future developments in the diagnosis and treatment of lung tumors will be presented at the specialist symposium "Lung cancer therapy at the highest level" on Saturday, October 5, from 9 am to 2.30 pm at St. Vinzenz-Haus (access via Nußbaumstraße 5). An introduction will highlight the importance of (lung) cancer centers. Afterwards, a patient will describe what he expects from a lung tumor center from his point of view. A historical review shows the development of lung tumor diagnostics and therapy in Munich and worldwide. Two further plenary sessions are dedicated to the progress made in the last decade, on the one hand in diagnostics (radiology, nuclear medicine, pathology) and on the other hand in therapy (thoracic surgery, radiotherapy, systemic therapy).
Contact:
The Lung Tumor Center would like to assist all lung cancer patients and their families with any concerns they may have, be it diagnosis, treatment or second opinions. They can contact us at:
LMU Clinic site
Lung Tumor Center Munich
Marchinoninistrasse 15
81377 Munich
Telephone: 089-4400-52590
Referral cell phone: 0152 5492 4226
E-mail: pneumologie@med.uni-muenchen.de
Location Asklepios Lung Clinic Gauting
Lung Tumor Center Munich
Robert-Koch-Allee 2
82131 Gauting
Phone: 089-85791-0
E-mail: pneumologie@med.uni-muenchen.de