ENFrankfurt is easy to reach for cancer care: it has a major airport with direct flights, a university hospital and several large hospitals with their own cancer centres. Families also come because relatives live in the Rhine-Main region or friends recommend it. The real question is where in Frankfurt their type of cancer is treated.
Cancer treatment in Frankfurt, Germany is provided by the university hospital, foundation-run hospitals and Protestant hospitals, each with its own cancer centres. Bowel cancer, for example, is treated at several of them, while rare tumours have fewer options. So choose the department by tumour type, not the city. For a general overview, see “Hospitals in Frankfurt”; this page covers oncology only.
University Hospital Frankfurt: oncology at a university centre
University Hospital Frankfurt is most useful for complex and rare tumours: the specialists work on one campus, treatment plans are discussed at a tumour board, and some patients may be offered a clinical trial. Branded Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt, it is a public-law institution established by the State of Hesse and located on Goethe University’s Niederrad campus on Theodor-Stern-Kai. In 2025 it had more than 1,356 beds, including day-clinic places. Together with Krankenhaus Nordwest and the University Hospital of Marburg it forms the UCT Frankfurt-Marburg cancer centre, which German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe) again named an Oncology Centre of Excellence in 2024.
A specialist example is the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, headed by Prof. Bastian Schilling, which diagnoses and treats skin cancer and has its own skin cancer centre. The hospital’s other cancer centres cover tumours of the breast and female organs, bowel, stomach, liver, pancreas, lung, head and neck, brain, prostate, kidney and bladder, as well as childhood cancer.
Krankenhaus Nordwest: digestive tract tumours and palliative care
For digestive tract tumours, Krankenhaus Nordwest has a centre for gastrointestinal tumours, separate centres for oesophageal, stomach, pancreatic and bowel cancer, and a centre for palliative medicine. Palliative care relieves pain, breathlessness and other symptoms and supports patient and family; it works best when started early, alongside tumour treatment, not only “at the end”. The palliative team sees patients on all wards.
The Department of General, Visceral and Tumour Surgery is headed by Prof. Thilo Welsch. His fields include surgical oncology, robotic surgery, minimally invasive oesophageal and gastric surgery and pancreatic surgery, a profile for cases where a tumour needs removing.
Agaplesion hospitals in Frankfurt: breast, gynaecological, urological, head and neck cancers
The Agaplesion hospitals treat breast, gynaecological, urological and head and neck cancers, among others. Agaplesion Frankfurter Diakonie Kliniken comprise two Protestant hospitals, the Markus Krankenhaus and the Bethanien Krankenhaus, which share one oncology centre.
Prof. Marc Thill heads Gynaecology and Gynaecological Oncology at the Markus Krankenhaus. He is spokesperson (Sprecher) of the interdisciplinary breast centre and of the steering committee of the hospitals’ oncology centre, and since 1 July 2026 he has been one of the two medical directors of Agaplesion Frankfurter Diakonie Kliniken. His department is part of the robotic surgery centre headed by Prof. Georg Bartsch, chief of urology, whose team treats prostate, bladder and kidney cancer.
At the Markus Krankenhaus, Medical Clinic I (gastroenterology, hepatology, oncology), headed by Prof. Axel Dignass, also treats digestive tract tumours; he co-leads the bowel centre. At the Bethanien Krankenhaus, PD Dr. Balazs Lörincz heads the ENT and head and neck clinic, which operates on tumours of the throat, larynx, parotid and thyroid glands, some robotically through the mouth.
Near Frankfurt: Bürgerhospital and Offenbach
Two further hospitals cover specific fields. For thyroid tumours, a specialised address is Bürgerhospital, an academic teaching hospital of Goethe University: since 2012 its Department of Endocrine Surgery has been a reference centre for thyroid and parathyroid surgery certified by the German Society of General and Visceral Surgery. In neighbouring Offenbach, Sana Klinikum Offenbach is a maximum-care hospital with its own oncology centre, thoracic surgery, urology and a lung cancer centre.
Looking beyond the region makes sense when a method is not available here. Proton therapy in Germany is given in Dresden, Essen, Heidelberg and Marburg (in Berlin only for eye tumours), and for some rare tumours or specific trials the right centre may be elsewhere too. A doctor decides this from the histology, scans and previous treatment. Centres certified by the German Cancer Society, in Frankfurt and beyond, are listed in the OncoMap search.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose a hospital in Frankfurt for cancer treatment?
Choose one with a centre for your type of tumour. OncoMap shows which Frankfurt hospitals have a centre certified by the German Cancer Society, for example for bowel, breast or prostate cancer. For a rare or complex tumour, the university hospital is a sensible start. Also ask whether a tumour board will discuss your case.
Can I come to Frankfurt just for a consultation?
Yes. An oncologist can review your records and scans, arrange further tests if needed and propose a plan that you continue at home. The records are sent to the hospital in advance; it then sets a date and sends a cost estimate, adjusted if new tests are needed.
Are children with cancer treated in Frankfurt?
Yes. University Hospital Frankfurt has a university centre for paediatric oncology, part of the UCT cancer centre. As with adults, it starts with the records: reports, histology, scans on disc and details of previous treatment. Parents should ask in advance how a parent can stay with the child.
Can treatment started at home be continued in Frankfurt?
Yes, once the doctor knows what has been done: reports with the drugs, doses and dates of each course, any radiotherapy plan, operation reports and histology. The Frankfurt team then decides whether to continue the regimen, change it or run further tests first; sometimes it confirms the plan made at home.
How AlenMed arranges cancer treatment in Frankfurt
AlenMed starts with your documents: discharge reports, histology, scans with discs and details of previous treatment. We translate them and send them to one or two hospitals in Frankfurt or other cities that suit your tumour type, and you receive the doctor’s reply with a cost estimate and a proposed date.
Then come the practicalities: a visa invitation, pick-up at Frankfurt Airport, accommodation near the hospital and an interpreter at consultations. If you prefer to talk to the doctor in English, see English-speaking doctors in Germany. AlenMed’s office is in Munich; its partner hospitals are all over Germany.
This material is for reference only and is not an offer. The treatment plan is decided by the doctor at an in-person consultation and by the tumour board.
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