VIDEO: Hundreds of women use the modernized oncogynecological center in Prague
“The project with a European subsidy allows us to be technologically equipped. For example, we perform demanding operations for cancers in the pelvis, and we needed new operating tables, operating lamps, generators for electrosurgery, surgical instruments, laparoscopic devices, ”describes Professor David Cibula, head of the Oncogynecology Center.
They offer truly comprehensive care
The European project aimed to modernize, renew and supplement the instrumentation and instrumentation of the oncogynecology center. The existing equipment no longer met all the requirements for top care provided in the 21st century. Patients benefited from this modernization in the form of improved care and the achievement of the full breadth of care.
They invested 60 million crowns in the aforementioned modernization, which took place between 2017 and 2019. European Union funds provided a subsidy of almost 45 million crowns.
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“For breast cancer surgery, we examined the course of the diagnostics of the device that obtained the tumor sample during the operation in the operating room. We also already have sentineline detection technology, which will allow us to reduce the scope of the operation. For the patient, this means less risk of complications and faster recovery. For diagnostics, we purchased state-of-the-art ultrasound devices, which we use in oncogynecology for practically all patients. I can’t forget about the equipment of devices for anesthesiology, “describes the head of the Oncogynecology Center.
“Thanks to European subsidies, the centers are really top-notch. We very much welcome this, without which progress would not be possible. “
He treats malignant pelvic tumors – external genitalia, vagina, cervix, uterus or ovaries. “We provide patients with comprehensive care from pre-tumor conditions, diagnosis of suspicious findings, surgical treatment, chemotherapy, biological treatment, to follow-up after treatment or treatment of recurrent diseases. Cooperation with other fields, such as psychological care, is crucial. In medicine, cooperation has been building for a long time, and I am happy to say that it is one of the great advantages of VFN, ie a top level of care across disciplines, “describes David Cibula.
EU funds
The composition of the patient at the Oncogynecological Center of the General Hospital in Prague corresponds to the incidence of tumors in the Czech Republic. “The most common cases are malignant tumors of the uterus, then ovarian and in third place cervical cancer,” explains Professor Cibula.
Without EU help, progress would not be possible
Thanks to the efforts of Professor Lukáš Rob, specialized centers for patients with gynecological tumors were established in the Czech Republic in 2014, and patients are thus concentrated in a center with higher erudition and specialization.
“Generally speaking, if patients with tumors are not treated in the center, the care will never be of sufficient quality. It has succeeded in the Czech Republic, now there are 17 accredited oncogynecological centers. Regionally, the republic is saturated, “says David Cibula. However, in his opinion, the center, due to the occurrence of these diseases, is too large. It will be very complicated in the future for everyone to maintain top quality care.
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“Thanks to European subsidies, the centers are really top-notch. We very much welcome this, without which progress would not be possible. The centers, including ours at the General Hospital, have moved technologically so that our service corresponds to all existing medicines and we are able to provide quality care, “adds David Cibula, founder of the Central European Collaborative Group in Oncogynecology, which brings together 66 oncogynecological centers from 13 Central and Eastern European countries.
David Cibula: The grant allowed us to move patient care to the European level
He joined the General University Hospital in Prague in 1992. He originally devoted himself to endocrinology, and his first publications date from this period. In 2002 he switched to oncogynecology, three years later he became Professor MUDr. David Cibula, CSc. Head of the Oncogynecological Center of the General Hospital in Prague.
David Cibula, head of the Oncogynecological Center of the General Hospital in PragueYou received a European subsidy of 45 million crowns for the project of modernizing the centre’s equipment. What if it didn’t work out?
If you failed to win, we would use the money in other ways. It would be more complicated and time consuming. This subsidy requires us to have modern equipment to move in patient care to the European level.
The project is over, what awaits you?
We are not a field that requires large technological investments. But every cutting-edge technology must change gradually, requiring renewal after about five years. So we will certainly soon find ourselves in a situation where we are looking for a similar subsidy title to stay at our level.
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How would you characterize your workplace?
Our center is quite large, together with the center in Královské Vinohrady is one of the two largest in the country. We do some things that are not done elsewhere, especially difficult surgeries in patients who have advanced disease or recurrence of the tumor. Ultrasound diagnostics has a long tradition in our workplace, doctors from all over the world come to train us and wait for years for the possibility of an internship.
Our level of science is exceptional, we devote a lot of research to the field of cancer. It is often a lot of extra work, but it makes a lot of sense for both patients and co-doctors and researchers. I’m lucky to have a team that has been very stable for fifteen years. Looking back, I can say with a clear conscience that there was not a period when we had to reduce or limit care due to a lack of staff.
Projects in numbers
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I like that it is a combination of surgery with a non-surgical internistic approach, which is not common elsewhere in medicine. The second thing I enjoy is teamwork. I also enjoy our work organization, which is often underestimated. Optimally, we should be able to ensure that the patient enters the ward and receives all the care there, and does not have to run through different wards. For example, we introduced reception centers at the clinic, when the whole spectrum of experts is prepared for the patient so that the patient leaves for oncological surgery with a new date during the day. Over the course of one day, the woman is examined by a sonographer, internist, and oncogynecologist, and a psychologist and nutritionist talk to her.
“Optimally, we should be able to get the patient to the ward and get all the care there, and not have to run around the wards.”
I also noticed that you have a Hippocrates Endowment Fund set up at the center…
The Hippocrates Foundation operates at our oncogynecology center, but is not part of the hospital. Of course, he focuses on gynecological tumors, we try to cultivate the environment of our center, but we also have activities aimed at everyone in the Czech Republic – awareness campaigns, information service for patients and their loved ones, we educate patients and prepare information brochures.
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How do you experience the individual destinies of women? And have you ever considered changing jobs?
For example, twenty patients will come on Wednesday, that is, twenty different destinies. In the afternoon we have an interdisciplinary seminar and we discuss thirty to forty other stories. Sometimes there is a lot. But I manage it, I clean my head best with sports. I have considered offers several times in the past, especially abroad, but in the end I am glad to have stayed. I would say I was in the right place at the right time…
Admit it, didn’t you want your father, the well-known writer Václav Cibula, to follow in his footsteps instead of medicine?
I didn’t want to be a writer. My dad, who corrected my essays at school, certainly didn’t have that expectation either. But I thought about medicine quite often. Already in high school, I had a lot of brigades, which were mostly related to medicine – I went to the ambulance, I worked as a paramedic. Even though I’m still writing and publishing something now, it’s professional texts that have clear rules, which suits me.