Model project for cancer treatment away from urban centers

Dresden University Medicine wants to expand interdisciplinary care for tumor patients away from urban centers. As part of a three-year pilot project called Mission4Sax, a surgical indication tumor board is to be set up by 2027, which will offer state-of-the-art technical surgical procedures and innovative clinical studies, as announced by the University Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine at TU Dresden on Tuesday. The project, which is funded by the federal government with 2.15 million euros, involves outpatient and inpatient structures from all participating medical fields.

The provision of comprehensive medical care for cancer patients away from urban centers is one of the major challenges facing the German healthcare system, they said. With the model project, medicine and science wanted to find out how this can be achieved and implemented. The close networking of expertise at the University Hospital, the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Economics at the TU Dresden with specialists in the field would enable cancer treatment and care in the region to be provided using state-of-the-art science.

"We are currently in the first phase of the project, which is about establishing structures with the help of pilot partners," said Jürgen Weitz, Head of the Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery (VTG) at Dresden University Hospital, which provided the impetus for the project. Clinics and hospitals in Radeberg, Bautzen and Zittau, the Hematological Oncology Center East Saxony and a specialist practice in Neustadt are involved. Weitz is convinced that the project has the potential to "become a model for other regions in Germany".