Department of Adult and Pediatric Otolaryngology - ATOS Clinic Heidelberg

About the Department of Adult and Pediatric Otolaryngology at ATOS Clinic Heidelberg

The Department of Adult and Pediatric Otolaryngology at the ATOS Clinic Heidelberg offers highly accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of a wide range of diseases of the ear, nose, and throat. The medical facility provides medical care to adult patients and children. Specialists use modern conservative and surgical treatment methods in their daily clinical practice. The medical facility offers patients well-equipped diagnostic rooms where tympanometry, pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, otoacoustic emission registration, brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA), laryngoscopy, and other diagnostic tests are done. The department's otolaryngologists have excellent qualifications in the field of surgical treatment of ENT conditions. Surgery is performed with the use of minimally traumatic microsurgical techniques. In many cases, surgical procedures are carried out on an outpatient basis. A hospital stay is required only in complex clinical situations. The medical team of the department works for the benefit of patients. The specialists are always attentive to their needs and wishes, and the work of the doctors is based on a personal approach. Diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are performed in strict accordance with the latest clinical protocols. The Head Physician of the department is Prof. Dr. med. Markus Fischer.

The department regularly performs surgeries for inner ear diseases. Tympanoplasty is one of the most demanded procedures. The essence of the surgical procedure is to restore the integrity of the eardrum and the ossicular chain in order to improve hearing and eliminate the purulent process. Indications for tympanoplasty are chronic forms of purulent and adhesive otitis, conductive hearing loss and tympanosclerosis. Tympanoplasty is performed in the department using microsurgical techniques.

The department specializes in the placement of bone conduction hearing aids and cochlear implants in adults and children. This treatment restores hearing to patients with severe forms of hearing loss. Surgery to place implantable hearing aids is performed at the department under local anesthesia using microsurgical techniques.

The specialists of the medical facility offer the full range of surgical treatments for nasal and sinus pathologies. The advanced operating rooms of the department are used to successfully perform septoplasty to correct deviated nasal septum, functional septorhinoplasty, aesthetic rhinoplasty and endonasal endoscopic sinus surgery. These surgical procedures are performed on an inpatient basis.

An integral part of the work of the department's otolaryngology team is the treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders, the most common of which is obstructive sleep apnea, a pathological condition in which short-term pauses in breathing occur during sleep. The gold standard of treatment is CPAP therapy. Its essence is the use of a special mask that creates a constant positive pressure in the airways to normalize breathing during sleep. An alternative method is uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, an operation to remove the uvula and part of the soft palate.

The department's range of medical services includes the following:

• Diagnostic options
  • Audiometry
    • Tympanometry
    • Pure-tone audiometry
    • Speech audiometry
    • Checking the functionality of the hearing aids
    • Registration of otoacoustic emissions with TEOAE and DPOAE methods
    • Brain evoked response audiometry with BERA and AABR methods
    • Hearing screening for newborns
  • Ultrasound examinations
    • B-mode paranasal sinus sonography
  • Diagnostics of sleep-related breathing disorders
    • Polygraphy
    • Polysomnography
  • Diagnostics of voice and speech disorders
    • Laryngoscopy
    • LED stroboscopy
  • Diagnostics of vestibular disorders
    • Positional testing for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
    • Caloric testing
    • Videonystagmography
    • Recording of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP)
  • Diagnosis of smell and taste disorders
• Therapeutic options
  • Conservative treatment
    • Drug therapy with medications and sprays
    • Irrigation
    • Inhalations
  • Surgical treatment
    • Surgery for middle ear diseases
      • Tympanoplasty
      • Cholesteatoma surgery
      • Stapedoplasty
      • Placement of implantable hearing aids
      • Cochlear implantation
    • Surgery for nasal and paranasal sinus diseases
      • Nasal vasotomy
      • Septoplasty
      • Functional septorhinoplasty
      • Aesthetic rhinoplasty
      • Endonasal endoscopic sinus surgery
      • Extranasal sinus surgery
      • Microsurgical laryngeal procedures
      • Surgery for nasolacrimal duct stenosis and obstruction
    • Surgery for thyroid diseases under the guidance of an intraoperative neuromonitoring system
    • Surgery for sleep-related breathing disorders
      • Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty
      • Adenotomy
      • Tonsillotomy
    • Plastic aesthetic surgery
      • Rhinoplasty
      • Otoplasty
• Other medical services