Findings and preliminary examinations
The attending physician
The first step is to become acquainted with your physician, who will look after you during the process of treatment at our facility. He will discuss the findings you have brought, and will partly scan them into the Centre’s data-processing system. If you‘ve brought your diagnostic documents on electronic media, this will be beneficial as well.
A preliminary decision on the therapeutic approach will be taken at the initial consultation. You and the physician will discuss the suitability of proton radiation in your particular case.
The staging investigation
If a positive decision has been reached on the issue of proton radiation, a staging investigation will be carried out in the next phase: Your entire body will be examined for signs of tumours and metastases. A proposal on the correct strategy can only be made on the basis of this investigation--for example, simultaneous irradiation of several targets or a combination therapy--and a realistic assessment of the prospects for success. The staging investigation is completely painless and lasts no more than 30 minutes. Your entire body may be subjected to a CT scan in conjunction with a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan. Under certain circumstances, a contrast medium will be injected in order to enhance the quality of the image.
An MRI scan is always the option of choice, because the body is not subjected to the burden of radiation. The PET scan, on the other hand, operates with an injection of radioactive material having a short half-life. Therefore, it is only used in cases of doubt.
The image material provided from the staging investigation comprises cross-sections of the body at intervals of 5 millimetres, or approximately 360 images. The large number of images allows the diagnostic radiology team to display the images like a film. The technician and physician are very adept at identifying abnormal findings from this "journey through the human body" with remarkable precision.