PD Dr Arsov: Urology & Prostate Cancer Specialist in Mönchengladbach (North Rhine-Westphalia)

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PD Dr Christian Arsov is a specialist in prostate cancer and head of the Urology Department and Prostate Center at the Elisabeth-Krankenhaus Rheydt in Mönchengladbach.

The Prostate Center in Mönchengladbach is dedicated to the interdisciplinary diagnosis and excellent surgical treatment of prostate diseases at the highest level. The cooperation of urologists and radiologists at the center allows each patient to receive exact diagnostics and individualized wide-ranging therapy.

Specialist for prostate cancer – Extensive Treatment Spectrum

The prostate, also known as the prostate gland, is found in the male below the urinary bladder. As an accessory sex gland, it produces part of the ejaculatory fluid. In older age, about half of all men suffer from a benign enlargement of the normally chestnut-sized organ. However, malignant prostate cancer is also considered the most common cancer in men.

As a urologist with the additional designation of medical tumor therapy, PD Dr Christian Arsov specializes in treating malignant prostate neoplasms.

At the Elisabeth-Krankenhaus in Mönchengladbach, not only surgical therapy options are available, but also various non-invasive options.

Radiation therapy from the outside and brachytherapy can be an alternative to surgery as a local radiation method. In addition, the entire range of medicinal system therapy for all urological tumors is also available in the department. Furthermore, PD Dr Arsov is also very experienced in hormonal therapy with the new androgen antagonists ("new hormonal agents").

Multiparametric Prostate MRI

This combination of three radiological imaging methods enables an extremely precise diagnosis of suspected prostate carcinoma cases. If the tissue has degenerated, the tumor can be localized in the organ with millimeter precision using multiparametric MRI; in addition, statements can already be made about the extent and aggressiveness of the tumor.

Tumor tissue shows abnormally high cell densities due to the uncontrolled cell division rate; the increased blood flow within the mass can be detected in an examination with a contrast agent. Thanks to these parameters, a tumorous process within the prostate can be diagnosed reliably.

If, on the other hand, the multiparametric prostate MRI does not provide any suspicious findings, a malignant process can be excluded with a high degree of probability.

3D Fusion Biopsy: State-of-the-art Diagnostics for Suspected Prostate Cancer

Three-dimensional fusion biopsy is also used to clarify a suspected prostate carcinoma. In this method, multiparametric MRI images of the prostate suspected of having cancer are taken as a first step. Then, suppose the suspicion of cancer is confirmed. In that case, the digital MRI images are fused on the screen in real time during an ultrasound examination to make the suspicious areas visible. This way, the urologists around PD Dr Arsov benefit from precise ultrasound navigation to take a punch biopsy. This can be done both from the rectum and through the perineum.

Prostate Cancer under Observation: Watchful Waiting & Active Surveillance

Since prostate carcinomas usually grow very slowly, watchful waiting is often advisable without taking direct therapeutic action.

Watchful waiting is a gentle therapeutic approach that focuses on quality of life in men of advanced age or in patients whose life expectancy has already been significantly reduced by other diseases. Only when a displacing tumor growth leads to symptoms, such as difficult urination, is therapeutic intervention carried out to maintain the quality of life.

A distinction must be made between this and active surveillance, in which younger patients with an average life expectancy undergo close-meshed monitoring, leading to radical therapy as soon as tumor growth exceeds a critical limit or symptoms occur.

High Level of Expertise in the Therapy of Prostate Cancer

Suppose the decision is made to take further steps within the framework of active surveillance. In that case, the team led by PD Dr Arsov at the Elisabeth Krankenhaus in Mönchengladbach offers a broad spectrum of all therapeutic options.

Surgical removal of the tumor is not always necessary. Treatment with androgen antagonists, a group of drugs that can block receptors for male sex hormones, can also inhibit tumor growth and melt down the tumor mass.

In addition to classic cancer therapy methods, such as radiation and chemotherapy, brachytherapy is also used for prostate cancer. This is a unique form of local radiation in which small radiation sources (seeds) are implanted into the prostate tissue under ultrasound control and irradiate the tumor from within.

Special Department for Prostate Cancer Surgery in Mönchengladbach, Germany

Patients with prostate cancer with a real chance of complete removal and cure should undergo a radical prostatectomy, i.e., total prostate and vesicular gland removal. This procedure focuses on preserving function as the second important treatment goal. The aim is to spare those nerve cords necessary to control urination and erectile function. Due to the high number of cases and the associated clinical routine, PD Dr Christian Arsov and his team are particularly sensitized to the functional preservation of these important pathways when performing this operation.

Please, visit the website of Elisabeth-Krankenhaus Rheydt for further information on PD Dr Arsov.