18/06/2021
ONCOLOGY TREATMENT IN TURKEY
About 4 out of 10 patients visiting Turkish hospitals come to this country for cancer treatment. The country has indeed achieved significant success in oncology treatment. Turkish specialists undergo training and internships in the best hospitals in the world. The hospitals have at their disposal modern equipment, which is why the most advanced types of cancer treatment are used here. Here are some examples. Early-stage prostate cancer is cured with a probability close to 100%. Turkish medical centres perform laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgeries to remove the affected prostate gland alone with preserving control over urination and er****on. At the advanced stages, prostate cancer with metastases to bones and distant organs is treated with pharmaceutical radionuclides – Actinium-225 and Lutetium-177. Being injected intravenously, Actinium-225 and Lutetium-177 accumulate in all foci of the prostate cancer with metastases and emit beta particles. Beta-radiation does not travel long distances in the tissues, thus it releases its action only in foci of the prostate cancer with metastases while sparing healthy neighbouring organs.
***Colon cancer is removed through laparoscopic access. After such an operation, patients recover faster and are less likely to suffer from dangerous complications. Even at the last stage of cancer, treatment can be effective, since doctors perform cytoreductive surgery followed by intraperitoneal chemotherapy.
***Breast cancer is not only cured by surgery. In Turkey, oncologists use the highest quality systemic medications, including approved by FDA in 2020 Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy) that is effective in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Turkish doctors restore the shape of the female breast using the patient’s own tissues or breast implants. The reconstruction can be performed simultaneously or in the second stage of breast cancer treatment, after radiation therapy.
***Blood cancer (acute leukaemia) is treated with chemotherapy, and if it is ineffective, then a bone marrow transplant is performed. The country performs more than 3 thousand such procedures annually. The vast majority of them are effective – they cure cancer and do not give serious complications.
***Stomach cancer: Conventional stomach cancer treatments include endoscopic mucosal resection, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and the combined chemoradiation. More up-to-date that have demonstrated efficacy in patients with advanced stomach cancer is systemic immunotherapy and targeted therapy. Depending on the stomach cancer stage, Turkish oncologists choose between different types of surgery (e.g. subtotal or total gastrectomy, gastrojejunostomy, etc.) and decide whether it will be better to combine surgical intervention with radiation therapy or systemic treatments. Immunotherapy (immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy) and targeted therapy (monoclonal antibody therapy and multikinase inhibitors) can be administered as independent therapeutic options.
***Bowel cancer. In Turkish hospitals, a bowel cancer treatment scheme is elaborated after the gene tests. Gene tests help in establishing the speed of the tumour cells division, the likelihood of tumour spreading and recurrence after the therapy completion. The conventional diagnostic methods, such as oncomarkers measurement, visualizing studies and biopsy, are complemented with innovative liquid biopsy. The liquid biopsy helps in both diagnosis making and assessing the response to certain medications. Depending on the stage of bowel cancer, surgery, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy along radiation therapy are used. In presence of liver metastases, hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) is performed. More innovative treatments, such as targeted therapy, are applied in eligible patients. In order to select the appropriate targeted drug, genetic and molecular tests are performed, including gene mutations in the KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF genes; HER2 protein and HER2 gene; NTRK genes. Due to the development of the medical tourism industry, patients from all countries have a chance to undergo such tests and receive the necessary therapy.
***Lung cancer. In Turkish hospitals, international patients can undergo all types of surgical interventions aimed at lung cancer treatment, as well as receive chemo- and radiation therapy. Certain patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can also receive treatment with targeted antibodies (bevacizumab, Nnecitumumab, ramucirumab) and checkpoint inhibitors (atezolizumab, durvalumab, ipilimumab).
***Uterine cancer. As surgery remains the main option of uterine cancer treatment, the Turkish medical associations have approved a number of minimally invasive and extensive operations. Removal of the uterus and cervix can be supplemented by bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy in menopausal women. Turkish oncologists also use the systemic methods of uterine cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy, hormone therapy in sensitive patients, immunotherapy and targeted therapy. If necessary, the treatment scheme includes sparing radiation therapy, e.g. the MRI-guided radiation therapy.
***Thymus cancer. The medical tourism industry offers international patients with rare pathologies a chance to undergo treatment in specialized hospitals abroad. Thymus cancer has ambiguous clinical manifestations and requires specific diagnostics, such as MRI, Ct scan and PET scan, biopsy. Myasthenia gravis and autoimmune paraneoplastic diseases can develop against the background of thymoma, which requires additional treatment. Thymus cancer itself is treated by means of surgery, irradiation and chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormonal and targeted drugs.
In Turkey, doctors use radionuclide methods, brachytherapy, Gamma Knife, photodynamic therapy and many other effective methods for cancer treatment.
