A Successful First Year of the Cancer Information Service in Dresden
One year after the establishment of the outstation of DKFZ’s Cancer Information Service (KID) at the University Cancer Center (UCC) in Dresden, the service will be expanded. Starting from March 1, 2011, patients will be offered a personal consulting service at UCC. In addition, two more female doctors will staff the telephone service at the toll-free number 0800 – 420 30 40.
Joint Press Release of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Dresden University Hospitals
© dkfz.de
The Cancer Information Service (Krebsinformationsdienst, KID) of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg provides neutral and toll-free information about all topics related to cancer via telephone, e-mail and the Internet. Profound, up-to-date and comprehensible answers were provided last year to more than 32,000 individual inquiries from patients, their families and interested members of the public.
In order to cover the growing need for quality assured information about cancer, the Cancer Information Service has been expanded into a national reference center for cancer information with funds of the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg since 2010. An important step towards this goal was the establishment of its first outstation in Dresden in order to equally reach the east of Germany. In March 2010, KID started operating at the University Cancer Center Dresden (UCC).
If the nationwide toll-free number 0800-420 30 40 is dialed from Berlin or the eastern German states, calls are directed preferably to Dresden. The KID outstation in Dresden is now staffed with five doctors.
In 2010, more than 26,000 telephone inquiries reached the Cancer Information Service, of which 20 percent were callers from the eastern states. Since its opening in March 2010, the outstation in Dresden was particularly often used by callers from Saxony and Berlin. Thus, the number of callers from the east of the country has increased considerably compared to the previous year: In 2009, only 15 percent of calls came from the eastern German states. In the east and the west of the country alike, women most frequently asked questions related to breast cancer, men to prostate cancer. Bowel cancer was the second most important topic for both genders alike.
Starting from March 1, 2011, KID will expand its service in collaboration with UCC by offering a consulting service. Patients of UCC will have the possibility of having their questions answered in a personal conversation. This service is free and does not require a physician’s referral. In no case will such a conversation replace an individual consultation with a doctor or a second doctor’s opinion. It is intended to be an orientation aid and to support patients and their families in the communication with their physicians by providing individually tailored information.
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.
To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:
The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
