Oncology and Nuclear Surgery in Türkiye
Türkiye is currently a top destination for foreign patients seeking oncological treatment. The major emphasis of medical tourism in Türkiye is undoubtedly the treatment of cancer and nuclear medicine. Modern medical technology makes it feasible to perform painless and secure surgical procedures to remove tumors of all sizes and types and to successfully treat cancer. Every form of therapy is administered in compliance with international standards (NCCN – in the USA, ESMO – in Europe).
Why Receive Oncology Care in Türkiye?
Cost
Oncology treatments costs 50% to 80% less than in the United States or Europe, yet the quality is the same. The country's general price policy, which is based on the income of the population, explains why prices are so low.
Location
Patients from all around Europe may easily travel less than four hours by plane to Türkiye.
Because Türkiye has so much to propose in terms of history, culture, shopping, and beaches, many patients prefer to turn their visit into a vacation and enjoy the most of their time there. Istanbul, which is a favored tourist destination in and of itself, is home to several of Türkiye's top surgeons and clinics.
There are hardly any waiting times, as well. Clinical Türkiye will make it very simple for you to make an appointment.
Common Oncological Treatments in Türkiye
Correct diagnosis is the most crucial component of cancer treatment. Realizing that over 30% of cancer patients arrive in Türkiye with a wrong diagnosis given by a specialist in their country of residence. Because of this, the diagnosis procedure is crucial. In Türkiye, it is carried out using the most cutting-edge technology available. Hospitals have all the tools required to locate cancer cell clusters. After an examination, a group of professors from several disciplines, led by chemotherapists, radiologists, and surgeons, decide on the most appropriate approach. Every case is different, as are the therapies and medicines used.
CHEMOTHERAPY: Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment which is used to eliminate cancer cells. Chemical drug therapy is used both alone and in collaboration with other medications or oncological treatment modalities like radiation or surgery. Chemotherapy refers to the application of medications during and after surgery for medical reasons. For patients with stage 4 oncological conditions, chemotherapy is applied as palliative treatment, as a means of controlling the disease to limit the growth and spread of the tumor and extend life.
Purposes of Chemotherapy:
Cure; Chemotherapy is used to cure cancer when feasible, which means that the cancer is eradicated - it goes away and does not return. The word "cure" is rarely used by doctors other than to suggest a potential or a purpose. As a result, a doctor may refer to a course of treatment as having curative purpose when it has the potential to cure a patient's cancer.
Control; Controlling the disease could be the objective if a cure is not possible. Chemotherapy is used to reduce tumor size and/or stop the growth and spread of cancer. The cancer patient may feel better and live longer as a result of this. Many times, cancer is treated and controlled as a chronic condition, just like cardiovascular disease or diabetes, even though it doesn't always totally go away. In some situations, the cancer can even appear to have disappeared for a while, however it is anticipated to return. Chemotherapy can then be given once again.
Palliation; Chemotherapy is another option for treating cancer-related symptoms. Palliative chemotherapy or palliation is what this is. The aim may be to enhance the quality of life or make the patient feel better once the cancer is at an advanced stage, which means it is not under control and has progressed from the site of origin to other regions of the body. For example, treatment might be used to assist minimize a tumor that is painful or pressing on nearby organs.
NUCLEAR MEDICINE: Nuclear medicine is a subspecialty of medical imaging that utilizes small quantities of radioactive material to diagnose, assess the severity of, and treat a wide range of illnesses, including many forms of cancer, heart disease, gastrointestinal, endocrine, neurological, and other problems inside the body. Nuclear medicine methods have the ability to detect disease in its earliest stages as well as a patient's prompt responsiveness to treatment measures since they can detect molecular activity within the body.
Diagnosis: Except for the use of intravenous injections, nuclear medicine imaging treatments are noninvasive and typically painless medical examinations that aid doctors in identifying and assessing medical disorders. Radiopharmaceuticals or radiotracers, which are radioactive substances, are used in these imaging examinations. The radiotracer would either be injected into the body, swallowed, or breathed as a gas, depending on the kind of nuclear medicine test, and gradually builds up in the organ or part of the body being studied. A particular camera or imaging gadget that takes photos and provides molecular data detects radioactive emissions from the radiotracer. Nuclear medicine pictures may be overlaid with CT or MRI images at many facilities to provide unique perspectives. This process is known as image fusion or co-registration. These perspectives enable the correlation and interpretation of data from two distinct exams on a single picture, resulting in more exact data and precise diagnoses. Additionally, manufacturers are also creating SPECT/CT and PET/CT machines that can simultaneously perform both imaging tests. PET/MRI is a new imaging method that is currently not widely accessible.
Therapy: Nuclear medicine also provides therapeutic techniques, such as radioactive iodine (I-131) therapy, which treats thyroid cancer and other diseases by using minute quantities of radioactive material. It also provides therapies for various cancers and diseases. Radioimmunotherapy may be used for Non-lymphoma Hodgkin's patients who fail to respond to chemotherapy (RIT). A customized cancer treatment called radioimmunotherapy (RIT) combines radiation treatment with immunotherapy, which mimics immune system cellular activity by targeting specific immune cells.
What are some common uses for the method?: Radionuclide imaging techniques are used by doctors to see how an organ, tissue, bone, or system within the body is built and works.
Nuclear medicine is used on adults to:
Heart
-picture the blood flow and activity of the heart (such as a myocardial perfusion scan)
-identify the degree of coronary stenosis and diagnose coronary artery disease
- evaluate cardiac damage after a heart attack.
-assess available therapies like angioplasty and bypass surgery
-assess the effectiveness of revascularization techniques
-spot rejection following a heart transplant
-assess heart health both during and after chemotherapy (MUGA)
Lungs
- inspect the lungs for breathing and blood flow issues.
-assess the difference in lung function before lung transplant or lung reduction surgery.
-recognize rejection after a lung transplant
Bones
-detect fractures, infections, and arthritis in bones
-look for signs of metastatic bone disease.
-assess aching prosthetic joints
-assess any bone metastases
-detect potential biopsy locations
Brain
-study brain anomalies in individuals with specific symptoms or disorders, such as seizures, memory loss, and probable abnormalities in blood flow
-recognize early signs of brain conditions like
Alzheimer's illness
-help with surgery planning and detect seizure sources
-analyze individuals who have Parkinson's disease or other possible movement disorders for anomalies in a brain chemical that controls movement.
-assessment for suspected recurrence of a brain tumor, surgical or radiation planning, or biopsy placement
Other Systems
-identify any gallbladder inflammation or abnormalities in function.
-spot bowel bleeding
-evaluate the aftereffects of gallbladder surgery
-assess any lymphedema
-assess a fever with no recognized cause
-determine where an infection is present.
-check thyroid function to see if it's hyperactive or underactive.
-help with the diagnosis of blood cell diseases and hyperthyroidism
-check for hyperparathyroidism.
-assessing stomach emptying
-assess spinal fluid flow and any possible leakage
Additionally, nuclear medicine is used on adults and children to:
Cancer
-identifying the existence or spread of the disease across the body is used to stage cancer.
-identify the sentinel lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer or skin and soft tissue malignancies before surgery
-create a treatment strategy
-assess treatment outcomes
-identify cancer recurrence
-find uncommon pancreatic and adrenal cancers
Renal
-evaluate the blood flow and operation of the kidneys, both natural and artificial
-detect obstructions in the urinary tract
-check for renal artery-related hypertension
-check for infection versus scarring in the kidneys
-identify and monitor urine reflux
Nuclear medicine is also applied to children to:
-look for esophageal anomalies such esophageal reflux or motility issues
-define whether the tear ducts are open.
-evaluate if the brain's ventricular shunts are open.
-evaluate the pulmonary blood flow and shunts in congenital heart disease.
Nuclear medicine therapies include:
o Treatment for thyroid cancer and various types of hyperthyroidism using radioactive iodine (I-131) therapy, such as Graves' disease and an overactive thyroid gland
o Radioactive antibodies used in the treatment of some types of lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system)
o The use of radioactive phosphorus (P-32) to treat certain blood conditions
o Radiotherapy for the painful bone metastases of tumors
o I-131 MIBG (radioactive iodine tagged with metaiodobenzylguanidine), which is used to treat malignancies of the adrenal gland in adults and cancers of the adrenal gland and nerve tissue in children.
Nuclear Medicine Examinations:
o RBC scintigraphy
o In111 scintigraphy
o Sr89 scintigraphy
o Mag3 scintigraphy
o TI201 scintigraphy
o DMSA scintigraphy
o DPTA scintigraphy
o Tc-99m thyroid scintigraphy
o I131 thyroid scintigraphy
Please contact us for a more detailed examination schedule and oncology check-up.
GAMMA KNIFE RADIOTHERAPY: For adults and kids with small to medium- sized brain tumors, abnormal blood vessel formations known as arteriovenous malformations, epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia, a nerve disorder that causes persistent pain, and other neurological illnesses, the Gamma Knife is an advanced radiation therapy.
Gamma Knife does not resemble a knife; rather, it is a complex technology that, in some circumstances, can take the role of whole-brain radiation or brain surgery. It uses a single, high dosage of gamma radiation that may be provided up to 201 separate beams that intersect at a single place with a precision of less than 0.1 millimeter (about the thickness of a sheet of paper).
A variety of neurological conditions, such as brain metastases, arteriovenous malformations, facial nerve pain (trigeminal neuralgia), meningiomas, acoustic neuromas, recurrent gliomas, post-surgical pituitary tumors, and essential tremor resistant to treatment can be treated with the gamma knife.
The Gamma Knife treatment can be utilized to treat targets even in the most important, hard to reach parts of the brain without significantly increasing radiation doses to healthy normal brain tissue. The Gamma Knife operation, sometimes known as "surgery without a scalpel," doesn't require for the operator to open the skull.
To find out if Gamma Knife radio surgery is the best option for you, get in touch with Clinical Türkiye’s medical advisor.
TrueBeam STx: TrueBeam STx is an innovative linear accelerator and radio surgical therapy device that enables surgeons to target cancers that are difficult to reach. Even when the tumor moves naturally during your breathing patterns, the machine -called ExacTrac®- can still take pictures of it thanks to cutting-edge imaging technology.
ALL in ONE: Numerous radiation therapies are possible with TrueBeam STx. Your doctor will choose a therapy program with your cooperation. They may recommend one of the therapies on the TrueBeam STx listed below, depending on the kind and stage of your cancer:
o RapidArc® and gated RapidArc radiotherapy
o Image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT)
o Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)
o Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), including:
- Stereotactic body radiation therapy
- Fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy
Cancer Types Treated with TrueBeam STx
o Brain cancer (benign and malignant)
- Head and neck cancer
- Liver Cancer
- Lung Cancer
- Pancreatic Cancer
- Prostate Cancer
o Spinal cancer
- Meningiomas
- Neurofibromas
- Schwannomas
- Vascular malformations
- Many recurrent and inoperable tumors
Additionally, TrueBeamSTx can cure cancer that has spread but is still contained to a single organ (oligometastasis).
CAR T-cell Therapy (Chimeric Antigen Receptor): CAR T-cell treatment is a kind of immunotherapy. It may also be described as a type of adoptive cell transfer. CAR T-cell therapy is a highly technical and professional medical procedure. In this procedure, a physician gathers and modifies a small proportion of your T cells. These then aim towards the cancer cells. Both some adults with lymphoma and certain children with leukemia may be able to get it as a potential treatment. It could be administered as part of a clinical experiment to people with various cancer types.
T cells: Understanding what T cells perform can help one better grasp CAR T-cell therapy. Lymphocytes, a kind of white blood cell, are crucial in the battle against infection and several disorders, including cancer. Different varieties of lymphocytes exist. One variety is T lymphocytes. T cells travel the body in search of and eliminating damaged cells. The body produces T cells to combat a particular infection or disease when you are exposed to a new infection or sickness. It then holds some in reserve so that your body can recognize and quickly fight the illness if you come into contact with it again.
What happens? : A sample of T cells from your blood is collected as part of this therapy. This is accomplished by your medical personnel through the apheresis procedure. A tube is then inserted into a vein in either arm. Blood is drawn from one tube and put into an apheresis device. The device separates the various components of the blood. Your T cells are removed by the machine for CAR T-cell treatment. Through the tube in your other arm, the remaining blood cells and regular blood fluid return to your body. The T cells are modified in the laboratory. This is sometimes referred to as T cell genetic engineering.
The T cell has evolved into a CAR T-cell. Chimeric antigen receptor is known as CAR. These CAR T cells are made to recognize and attack a particular protein on cancer cells. In the lab, the modified T cells develop and proliferate. Once there are sufficient cells, a drip is used to reintroduce these cells into your bloodstream. The CAR T-cells are intended to identify and then kill the cancer cells. Because of the modifications they undergo in the lab, they are able to recognize and target certain cancer cells in your body over extended periods of time. How long they can stay in the body is currently being investigated by researchers. Different corporations manufacture various forms of CAR T-cell treatment.
o Examples:
-axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta)
-tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah)
Which types of cancer? : Some children with leukemia and some adults with lymphoma are candidates for CAR T-cell therapy.
o Children and young people: For people with B cell ALL, a form of leukemia, under the age of 25, CAR T-cell is advised. Any one of the following circumstances will call for its use:
• Recently diagnosed children or adolescents whose leukemia has not improved after two treatment cycles.
• Their disease has returned (relapsed) after having received a stem cell or bone marrow transplant
• Their illness has returned at least twice.
• Children and adolescents whose leukemia had previously responded to treatment but has now returned and chemotherapy is no longer effective
• Their disease has recurred once, but they are not well enough or have access to a donor to get a stem cell transplant.
o Adults: It will also be offered to certain individuals who have one of the following kinds of lymphoma:
• Diffuse large B cell lymphoma
• Primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma
It is for people whose lymphoma has recurred or grown after at least two treatments. Therefore, only a limited number of children and young people as well as about 200 adults a year are candidates for this therapy. Other than research studies, it is not utilized as a treatment for other cancer types in kids or adults.
Genetic Approach to Cancer Treatment
Gnomic mutations are the origin of the cancer sickness. Traditional cancer treatment, which consists solely of determining the stage and kind of cancer, is no longer effective. Blinded treatments which are confirmed by regular MRI tests are used according to the cancer site's procedure.
We now are living in a world where the genetic code project has been completed, allowing us to collect a profile of genetic alterations for which we can clearly identify the patient's optimal treatment plan. We collaborate with a group of qualified oncologists who assess the outcomes of the completed genetic testing. When necessary, we have every option to use radiation and proton therapy's most recent technology. The use of IMRT, ARC, and radiosurgery on patients has been successful. Hyperthermia is utilized in addition to various forms of treatment, which enhances the impact of radiation, immunotherapy, as well as other types of cancer treatment. Doctors also increase therapy tolerance while strengthening the patient's body with a high dosage of vitamin C.
Not only the methodology of treatment, but also the patient's doubts, type of food, habits, and psychological condition are significant; taken as a whole, a comprehensive style of treatment combined with an appropriate diet, psychological support, physical therapy, and with the help of the oncology team, they achieve success in the patient's health. Only a small percentage of cancers are hereditary, thus doctors don't focus on treating the disease's underlying cause but rather the component of the body that was affected and caused cell mutation.
After difficult therapy, oncologists create a new life map with the correction of previous errors in order to reduce the chance of recurrence. Each patient's personalized version of this program is created. There are no established cancer treatments that use genetic techniques for customized care. This is the process of choosing the proper food and lifestyle, in conjunction with a DNA test. We offer personalized treatment based on cutting-edge medical technology, modern medications, and a customized treatment plan with supportive counseling.
Our group of oncologists includes top experts if surgery is required. Each patient is treated depending on the findings of their medical assessment and test results.
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