Patient Care
Per year about 700.000 patients are treated at the University Hospital Heidelberg. The Hospital is especially renowned for the treatment of cancer. A recent innovation in the care of cancer patient is the foundation of the National Center of Tumor Diseases (NCT) in cooperation with German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). The goal of NCT is an interdisciplinary collaboration between various clinical and basic science disciplines and the fast implementation of new and innovative therapeutic procedures. A good example for the Heidelberg's leading position in innovative cancer research and treatment is HIT (heavy ion therapy). HIT utilises scanned beams of heavy ions, like carbon ions, and is thought to be superior in the treatment of some cancers compared to normal photon radiation. The new facility at University Hospital Heidelberg is unique in the world. The HIT radiation beam is directed by a 600 metric ton gantry which is rotated to focus the beam. Despite this enormous mass the deviation of the beam is less than ½ millimeter. In order to achieve this accuracy the whole gantry has to be maintained at a constant temperature. The total cost of the facility amounted to more than 100 Million Euros (2009).
Read more about this topic: University Hospital Heidelberg
Famous quotes containing the words patient and/or care:
“I am a patient man—always willing to forgive on the Christian terms of repentance; and also to give ample time for repentance.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“When they are not at war they do a little hunting, but spend most of their time in idleness, sleeping and eating. The strongest and most warlike do nothing. They vegetate, while the care of hearth and home and fields is left to the women, the old and the weak. Strange inconsistency of temperament, which makes the same men lovers of sloth and haters of tranquility.”
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