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Lung treatment in Germany
We often neglect our lungs, and experts such as the experienced Munich pulmonologist Prof. Dr. Jürgen Behr speak of the lungs as a «forgotten organ». And not without reason: most patients only think of the lungs when they have problems such as severe coughing or shortness of breath.
In Germany alone, millions of people suffer from these symptoms, but many do not go to the doctor or go to the doctor too late. Often their lungs have already suffered irreparable damage. «The casualty figures for lung diseases are appalling. If you look at the alarming figures, it is obvious that this topic occupies too little space in people’s minds,» Prof. Behr tells the Tages Zeitung (TZ). «It is all the more important to get more people involved in taking care of their lungs.»
Prof. Behr is a pioneer in trying to improve the situation for lung patients in Germany. For two and a half years, he has been the head of the only pulmonology department in Bavaria. It is a kind of research center for pulmonology, organized in cooperation with the Ludwig Maximilian University (Klinikum Großhadern), the Asclepius Pulmonology Clinic in Gauting and the Helmholtz Society. In a major article in the TZ, Prof. Behr explains which lung diseases are particularly dangerous and how to protect yourself against them.
What are the most common lung diseases?
In a healthy state, the lungs are a work of art within our bodies. «You can imagine them as a thin film. Although it is only a thousandth of a millimeter thick, its total area is between 100 and 150 square meters,» explains Professor Behr. The lungs look like an upside-down tree: with the trachea as the trunk and the two main bronchi as thick branches, which in turn branch out into bronchi and bronchioles. At the end are approximately 300 million pulmonary vesicles, called alveoli. They provide the vital exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood.
If this powerful but very sensitive system is weakened, it can lead to dramatic consequences for the patient and even death. The number of people suffering from lung diseases is often underestimated. Our overview of the most common lung diseases shows this:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD:
This disease is often called «smoker’s cough» in everyday life. «In this disease, the lungs lose their elasticity, the bronchi narrow and shortness of breath occurs,» explains Prof. Behr. According to the World Health Organization, some 64 million people suffer from the disease — that’s 14 percent of the world’s population. «The number will increase,» warns Behr, «COPD is currently the third most common cause of death.» In Germany, between seven and ten million patients suffer from the disease.
This disease causes inflammatory reactions in the airways, which in turn cause narrowing and difficulty breathing. This disease affects approximately five percent of the adult population and seven to ten percent of all children. The trend is growing.
Pneumonia:
It is, often a debilitating disease that can be fatal, especially in elderly and debilitated patients. «Last winter, due to an outbreak of influenza, we treated several hundred patients at Asklepios Clinic, in Gauting, some of whom had severe pneumonia. The number of cases was higher than in the last ten years,» reports Prof. Behr.
Tuberculosis (TB):
Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria. It is prevalent mainly in underdeveloped countries, with around 1.4 million deaths a year worldwide. «But here in Germany, too, the number of patients is increasing again,» says Prof. Behr, who works in the largest tuberculosis unit in Bavaria at the Asclepius Clinic, in Gauting . «We must take this trend seriously. »
Lung cancer affects more than 50,000 German citizens every year and more than 40,000 die from the disease. This is evident from the latest statistics published by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in 2011. And more: «Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in Germany. Today, because of its poor prognosis with an incidence of 25 percent, it is also the most common cause of cancer death in men, and the third most common cause of death in women (14 percent)»
Therapy of this disease continues to be a major challenge and, despite intensive research in this area, the prognosis remains unfavorable in many cases. Reliable diagnosis and modern treatment methods are most important. Therefore, patients should strive to get to highly specialized hospitals with a large number of cases and appropriate medical expertise as soon as possible.
Asklepios, the pulmonology hospital in Gauting near Munich, has 268 beds. It treats more than 10,000 patients a year, making it the largest specialized pulmonology clinic in Bavaria and one of the five largest pulmonology clinics nationwide. Under the leadership of the medical director, Prof. Jürgen Bär, the clinic has one of the largest lung cancer diagnosis and treatment units in Germany.Only about 700 patients a year receive cytostatic chemotherapy here, while almost 2,800 cycles of therapy are carried out in the clinic’s inpatient unit.
The range of treatment in the oncology departments of the clinic includes the treatment of all forms of lung cancer (small cell and large cell cancers) at all stages of the disease, malignant pleural mesothelioma and all other cancers that involve the lungs or thorax. The clinic specializes in the interdisciplinary treatment of lung and thoracic cancer and works in close cooperation with the Clinic for Thoracic Surgery as well as the Radiation Therapy Clinic of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
The therapy and healing prospects for lung cancer depend mainly on three factors: the patient’s health status, the stage of the disease, and the form of the cancer. The difference is whether the cancer is small cell or large cell, which often determines the treatment strategy — whether surgery or chemotherapy is needed.
Do you, as a patient, family member of a patient or family physician, have questions about the treatment of pulmonologic diseases in Germany?
Please contact us, we would like to help you.
We cooperate with leading pulmonology centers and clinics in Germany.