Department of Gastroenterology (286091)

About the Department of Gastroenterology at Hospital Waldbrol Oberberg

The Department of Gastroenterology at the Hospital Waldbrol Oberberg offers the full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services for patients with gastrointestinal diseases, including pathologies of the esophagus, stomach, small and large intestine, rectum, liver, gallbladder and bile ducts, pancreas. The department is headed by Dr. med. Hartmut Kristahl.

The department has 34 beds for inpatient accommodation of patients. A competent team of the department's doctors treats about 1,500 inpatients and more than 1,000 outpatients every year. The department is equipped with modern devices for carrying out endoscopic diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. The doctors strictly adhere to clinical protocols, so the patients can rely on the safest and the most effective treatment.

The main clinical focuses of the department include:

• Inpatient medical services
  • Diagnostics and treatment of all acute and chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including liver, gallbladder and pancreas
  • Diagnostics and treatment of metabolic disorders with a focus on type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus and exocrine thyroid dysfunctions
  • Diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract
  • Photo and video recording of the results of endoscopic procedures in HD quality: biopsy, removal of polyps, endoscopic hemostasis in case of gastrointestinal bleeding
  • Diagnostic airway endoscopy (bronchoscopy) with biopsy
  • Endosonography of all sections of the gastrointestinal tract, including biliary tract, pancreas and liver, as well as the mediastinal organs (including ultrasound-guided targeted puncture biopsy)
  • Endoscopy of the bile ducts and pancreas, including sparing removal of gallstones, implantation, replacement or removal of stents, biopsy and removal of papillary tumors
  • Contrast-enhanced ultrasound scanning
  • Liver elastography
  • Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography with procedures for internal and external drainage of the bile ducts
  • Balloon dilatation and bougienage for stenosis, strictures and achalasia
  • Botulinum toxin injections for achalasia
  • Palliative treatment of tumors using stent implantation into the esophagus, stomach, colon and biliary tract
  • Special diagnostic procedures for the detection of the causes of diarrhea, as well as certain endocrine tumors
  • Ultrasound scanning of the abdominal cavity and thyroid gland, Doppler ultrasonography of the vessels of the abdominal cavity
  • Ultrasound-guided puncture of the liver, tumors, cysts and abdominal abscesses 
  • Diagnostics and treatment of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic hepatitis, metabolic lesions of the liver and chronic pancreatitis
  • Esophageal manometry for diagnosing the causes of swallowing disorders and thoracic pain of unknown origin
• Outpatient medical services
  • Gastroscopy (esophagogastroduodenoscopy)
  • Colonoscopy (ileocolonoscopy), including with the removal of polyps
  • Endosonography of the upper and lower digestive tract, including examinations of the liver, pancreas and biliary tract
  • Esophageal pH-metry and impedancemetry
  • Esophageal manometry
  • Breath tests for suspected intolerance to lactose, fructose
  • 13C-labeled urea breath test for the diagnostics of Helicobacter pylori infection
  • Contrast-enhanced liver ultrasound 
• Other diagnostic and treatment methods

Photo of the doctor: (c) Klinikum Oberberg GmbH