Cancer Information Service Now Also Operating From Dresden

Since 1986, the Cancer Information Service (Krebsinformationsdienst, KID) of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), modeled after the US National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service, has offered advice and help for those affected by cancer. The Cancer Information Service provides neutral and toll-free information about cancer via telephone, e-mail and the Internet. Offering up-to-date, profound and comprehensible information, the service individually answers more than 33,000 inquiries about all topics related to cancer each year.

Funded by the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the State of Baden-Württemberg, the Cancer Information Service is currently being expanded into a national reference center for cancer information in order to cover the growing need for quality assured information about cancer and to make the service increasingly available for experts as well. Very shortly, the German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe e.V.) will be joining the reference center as an important partner.

“People who suffer from cancer are confronted with a flood of different kinds of information today and they often get confused. In this situation, it is important to get comprehensible and reliable information. By expanding the Cancer Information Service of the German Cancer Research Center we aim to make direct and toll-free information about cancer available for the public across Germany,” said Research Minister Annette Schavan whose ministry will provide annual funds of € 3.3 million for this project starting from 2010.

“It is a major concern of ours that the results of our research should reach the patients as quickly as possible. This also includes providing the best possible information and advice. The establishment of the first KID outstation in Dresden brings us a big step closer towards our goal of providing the best possible information for cancer sufferers and their families, medical professionals and the general public throughout Germany,” said Professor Dr. Otmar D. Wiestler, Scientific Director of the German Cancer Research Center. “We are very happy that the Ministry of Education and Research provides such generous support for this ambitious project and that we have found a partner, the University Cancer Center Dresden, which offers excellent framework conditions for this project.”

“Quality assured cancer information as provided by the Cancer Information Service KID is an excellent complement to the existing services of the University Cancer Center Dresden (UCC). As an oncology excellence center, UCC offers interdisciplinary clinical care, interdisciplinary development of cancer research and teaching in a closely interlocked setting that produces leading standards for high-quality care of oncology patients,” said Professor Dr. Gerhard Ehninger, Managing Director of UCC. “The position of the University Cancer Center and its location in Dresden with its internationally renowned medical-scientific cancer network provides an excellent environment for the outstation of the Cancer Information Service. It will close a major gap, because particularly in the East of Germany people have made not made enough use of the Heidelberg Cancer Information Service so far.“

“In view of the overwhelming amount of available information about cancer, it is difficult for many patients and their families to remain focused and to know which information is really valuable,” said Dr. Regine Hagmann, temporary head of the Cancer Information Service. “In this respect, KID gives important guidance. But although we already answer more than 33,000 individual inquiries a year about all topics related to cancer, we have not yet been able to fulfill the need for quality assured information throughout the whole country. In particular, KID has not really reached the North and the East of Germany yet.”

This will change with the first Cancer Information Service outstation at the University Cancer Center Dresden. At the nationwide toll-free number 0800-420 30 40, calls from the East German states are automatically directed to Dresden by the telephone system. The service in Dresden will initially be staffed with two female doctors who have received intensive training for this task.

A picture for this press release is available on the Internet at:
http://www.dkfz.de/de/presse/pressemitteilungen/2010/images/KID_Dresden.jpg
Figure caption: The doctors of the Cancer Information Service in Dresden at work.
Photography: University Cancer Center Dresden (UCC)

The University Cancer Center Dresden (UCC) is one of Germany’s eleven Oncology Centers of Excellence of the German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe e.V). This distinction was awarded to UCC in 2007 as one of the first excellence centers in Germany following an international evaluation. The University Cancer Center Dresden was established in 2003 jointly by the University Hospitals and the Carl Gustav Carus Medical Faculty as a Comprehensive Cancer Center for comprehensive interdisciplinary care of cancer patients, cancer research and teaching. Since 2004, UCC has been certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000.
At the University Cancer Center Dresden, highly specialized physicians in all disciplines of oncology are working together to provide individualized, optimized multidisciplinary treatment for each patient. Many specialists are not only experienced physicians, but are also working as university teachers and cancer researchers. This helps to ensure that the latest state of knowledge is taken into account in every step from diagnosis to treatment.