Radiotherapy Hamburg - Prof. Dr Würschmidt

Prof. Dr Florian Würschmidt is a specialist in radiotherapy at the Radiological Alliance.

Prof. Würschmidt and his team offer stereotactic radiotherapy as a unique, very complex, and exact form of radiotherapy for treating malignant cancers in the field of radiation oncology. This method, initially developed for the non-invasive treatment of brain tumors is now also used to destroy tumors outside the brain with minimal impact on healthy tissue.

High Precision Radiation Therapy in Hamburg: Specialist for Stereotactic Therapy

Stereotactic radiotherapy aims to administer the highest possible dose of radiation energy to a precisely defined and limited body area. The irradiated tissue of a tumor can thus be destroyed entirely. This is also referred to as radiosurgery since, as in surgery, a tumor can be removed entirely, only in a non-contact, non-invasive manner. Stereotactic radiotherapy began with the development of the Gamma Knife by the Swedish neurosurgeon Prof. Lars Leksell and the radiation biologist Börje Larrson. The Gamma Knife was first used in Stockholm in 1968. The radiation is focused from 192 cobalt radiation sources with submillimeter precision, destroying only the tumor area.

State-of-the-Art Stereotactic Radiosurgery: Usage of the HyperArc Technique

Outside the brain, so-called body stereotactic surgery has developed recently, performed with unique linear accelerators. The Radiological Alliance uses a newly established technique from Siemens Varian, which, as the so-called HyperArc technique, has recently allowed a further significant increase in the precision of stereotactic radiotherapy, particularly in the head region. Using this method, not only is the linear accelerator moved around the patient, but the treatment table is also moved in a synchronized manner. Furthermore, thanks to the rapid development of computer technology and the increasing use of AI-based planning algorithms, it is possible to achieve optimizations of the radiation treatments that make it possible to treat even complex-shaped tumors and those directly adjacent to vital structures effectively and, above all, very gently with very high doses.

Radiological Alliance: High Level of Expertise in Tumor Diagnostics

Any point in the body can now be treated stereotactically using radiation therapy with new technical possibilities. A prerequisite, of course, is the exact imaging of the tumor, without which stereotactic treatment is impossible. For this purpose, the Radiological Alliance provides all essential diagnostic procedures, including a PET-CT scanner of the latest generation and MRI and CT scanners especially for radiation therapy, such as the Siemens Somatom go open Pro computergraph. Furthermore, it features integrated respiratory guidance technology and AI-based recognition of critical anatomical structures to define the organs at risk that are to be protected.

Treatment Spectrum of Prof. Dr Florian Würschmidt

The main focus of extracranial (outside the brain) stereotactic radiotherapy is on early lung tumors, metastases to the lung, liver, and adrenal glands, metastases to lymph nodes both in the breast and abdomen, prostate carcinomas that are limited to the prostate, and metastases in bone and the area of the spinal cord.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Treatment is always preceded by an interdisciplinary discussion with other specialist disciplines to determine the treatment concept for the disease. This is followed by the definition of the target area of the tumor region and the so-called risk organs to be protected. Finally, specialized medical physics experts calculate the optimal dose distribution based on the integrated imaging and the defined radiation areas (so-called target volumes).

Please, visit the website of the Radiological Alliance for more information on Professor Würschmidt.