Martini Klinik
Non-invasive medical technologies
Advanced treatment centres
Private medical centres
Hamburg, Germany
The Martini Klinik is part of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), the largest hospital in Northern Germany, with 80 clinics and institutes. As a teaching hospital, it carries out medical research and many doctors, scientists and students visit to work in its clinics and laboratories.
Visit the Martini Klinik web site for telephone numbers or to send an on-line message.
Enquiries for treatment or for a second opinion
The Martini-Klinik is a specialist centre for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. It offers a wide range of therapy forms, based on the latest research.
One focus is on nerve-preserving removal of the prostate gland and the experienced surgeons are among the best-known experts world-wide in this field. In the pleasant surroundings of this private clinic, they make sure that the quality of their patients' lives is preserved.
Prof. Hartwig Huland
Prof. Markus Graefen
Prof. Hans Heinzer
Dr Georg Salomom
Dr Imke Thederan
PD Dr Alexander Haese
PD Dr Thorsten Schlomm
Prostate surgery
The Martini Klinik offers ”classical” surgical removal of the prostate, known as radical retropubic prostatectomy, where the surgeon removes the prostate manually.
The second option for radical prostatectomy is minimally invasive surgery with the da Vinci® surgical system. Here the surgeon uses a surgical robot, to which microsurgical instruments and a three-dimensional camera system are attached.
Radiotherapy
The Radiotherapy Unit of the UKE Medical Centre offers the full spectrum of modern treatment methods, such as radiotherapy in linear accelerators and Tomotherapy is offered here for radiation of prostate cancer.
Tomotherapy combines a linear accelerator with computer tomography, making image-guided radiation possible to minimise damage to healthy surrounding tissue.
Brachytherapy
In low-dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy radioactive particles in the size of a grain of rice are inserted into the prostate. The particles emit a steady dose of radiation into the surrounding tissue, causing destruction of the tumor cells. Within one year, the radiation will have faded away, and the particles do not need to be removed. Computer-assisted implantation is performed under anesthesia for exact seed deposition. This method is most suitable for very early stage tumours.
High-dose rate (HDR) Brachytherapy (afterloading) can be used in more aggressive cases and is not limited to early stage cancers. A radioactive source is introduced into the prostate gland by means of hollow needles which are removed after the treatment.
In two sessions at the Martini-Klinik, the cancer cells are exposed to radiation for a short time and are thus irreparably damaged. Subsequently, five-week daily percutaneous radiation therapy complements the afterloading procedure. This combination with additional external irradiation offers patients high cancer control rates.
Drug-based therapy
If a cancer is detected early and the patient is older, the malignancy does not necessarily harm life expectancy. The experts at the Martini Klinik have developed a nomogram that can aid to identify cancers that could be actively observed and where treatment might be avoided or at least delayed.
The tumour may also be controlled by hormonal therapy. The Klinik offers drug-based therapies too and the choice of the most suitable treatment depends again on patient age and the characteristics of the cancer.
Chief Physicians
Dr Thomas Steuber
Click picture for personal profile
Martini Klinik team - click image for full size
Diagnosis and second opinions
Only a nerve-preserving radical prostatectomy offers the possibility of preserving potency after the operation. Techniques which do not preserve the nerve bundles will result in post-operative impotence. Moreover, post-operative urinary continence is improved by preservation of the nerves.
95% of Martini Klinik patients are fully continent after nerve-preserving surgery.
Diagnosis of prostate cancer or reappearance of a tumour raises many questions. Choosing which therapy, each with its associated risks, is difficult.
The Martini Klinik offers a second opinion service to help to find the most suitable therapy for you and to give you the support you need in this difficult situation.
For more information on the University Medical Centre, Hamburg-Eppendorf, visit the UKE page of this web site.
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