Schwarzach hospital expands lung cancer care

The Kardinal Schwarzenberg Hospital in Schwarzach, in the Pongau district, has expanded lung cancer diagnosis and treatment for patients in Salzburg’s inner regions, ORF reports. Complex lung examinations, including endobronchial ultrasound, can now be carried out there instead of in Salzburg city.

The hospital has acquired new equipment and recruited experienced staff for the specialised bronchoscopy service. The procedures allow doctors to take tissue samples for analysis and to target and biopsy lymph nodes around the airways. Some interventions can also be performed.

Up to 100 to 150 examinations a year could move from Salzburg city to Schwarzach. That is the estimated number of people diagnosed with lung cancer each year in the Pongau, Pinzgau and Lungau districts.

Georg Pall, a lung cancer specialist and head of the hospital’s Department of Internal Medicine II, said a faster diagnosis allows treatment to begin sooner and can improve the chances of recovery. Tissue samples are important both for initial diagnosis and for monitoring changes in tumour tissue during treatment, he said, allowing medication to be adjusted.

The hospital plans to gradually involve doctors in private practice in the inner regions in the new service.