Regional chemotherapy
The Regional Chemotherapy (RCT) is an experimental variant of oncological chemotherapy for the treatment of tumors . In the professional world it is at best viewed as a special application for a small group of patients.
principle
In contrast to systemic chemotherapy, i.e. chemotherapy that affects the whole body, the cytostatic agent is only administered in a restricted manner to the affected organ or the affected body region. In regional chemotherapy, the drug is typically introduced via the artery that supplies the tumor with blood.
The term came into vogue in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s through the German surgeon Karl Reinhard Aigner and gained some international attention through various publications. Today chemotherapy is done in so many different ways and also locally that regional chemotherapy is hardly used as an independent term.
Therapy techniques
There are four variants of regional chemotherapy.
- Angiographic application - a catheter is inserted into the inguinal artery under local anesthesia and guided through the artery into the tumor region under X-ray control.
- Surgical application - an arterial port catheter is implanted in the vessel supplying the tumor. The cytostatic can then often be administered on an outpatient basis.
- Transarterial chemoembolization - the finest blood vessels (capillaries) are blocked with microparticles so that the cytostatic agent stays longer in the tumor area. As a result of the blocked blood flow, an oxygen deficiency develops in the organ, which increases the tumor-toxic effect of some cytostatics.
- Isolated perfusion - the affected organ or body region is separated from the bloodstream using a balloon catheter. The blood flows through an external pump or a heart-lung machine first through the organ's artery and then out of the organ again via the corresponding blood vein . Then the organ is flooded with a high-dose chemotherapeutic agent. Finally, the blood is filtered to remove any residues of the agent. The entire procedure takes about two hours.
criticism
The lack of scientific studies proving the success of this method / s is criticized. According to the German Cancer Research Center, the method is “only suitable for very few types of cancer and only in very specific situations”. The costs of the treatment are usually not covered by health insurance companies.
The RCT received media attention in Germany in April 2017, when dubious advertising methods for RCT became public. Karl Reinhard Aigner had to admit that, as an employee of the Medias Clinic in Burghausen, Upper Bavaria, he paid the private advertising agency amonpress from Germering "a monthly flat fee" for advertising magazine articles under the guise of serious reporting. The agency had written positive reports through journalist Linda Amon on alleged treatment successes in German tabloid media and women's magazines , although the treatment method is at least controversial.
literature
- Karl R. Aigner with other authors: Regional Cancer Treatment . Karger, 1994, ISBN 3-8055-4762-5 . Induction chemotherapy . Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, 2011, ISBN 978-3-642-18172-6 . Regional therapy of malignant tumors . Springer, 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-35013-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fate turned . In: Der Spiegel . No. 17 , 1982, pp. 250-251 ( online ).
- ↑ Lifeless wrecks . In: Der Spiegel . No. 36 , 1985, pp. 197 ( online ).
- ↑ a b Christina Berndt: Clinic advertises cancer treatment - with dead patients. Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 18, 2017, accessed on April 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Peter Hornung, Djamila Benkhelouf: Cancer clinic advertises with dead. Norddeutscher Rundfunk , April 18, 2017, accessed on April 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Importance: What are the benefits of cytostatic treatment in cancer? krebsinformationsdienst.de of the DKFZ, accessed on April 18, 2017 .