Department of General and Abdominal Surgery, Endocrine Surgery, Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and Hernia Surgery - Luisenhospital Aachen

About the Department of General and Abdominal Surgery, Endocrine Surgery, Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and Hernia Surgery at Luisenhospital Aachen

The Department of General and Abdominal Surgery, Endocrine Surgery, Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and Hernia Surgery at the Luisenhospital Aachen specializes in performing a wide range of operations in the areas of its competence. The surgeons at the medical facility have a particular clinical interest in performing surgery for hernia repair, thyroid diseases, rectal diseases, and anal pathologies. These areas are certified by the German Cancer Society (DKG) and the German Society for General and Visceral Surgery (DGAV). The department houses several highly specialized centers, including the Colorectal Cancer Center, the Hernia Surgery Center, and the Center for Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery. The department also has the status of a Competence Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery. The department's operating rooms have equipment for laparoscopic surgery, including advanced 3D technologies. The department has more than 25 years of experience performing sparing interventions that do not require any extensive skin and soft tissue incisions. The department has implemented a special Fast Track program aimed at achieving the fastest possible recovery for the patient in the postoperative period and their return to everyday life. With appropriate clinical indications, surgical interventions may be performed on an outpatient basis. The Head Physician of the department is Prof. Dr. med. Reinhard Kasperk.

The department's surgeons regularly demonstrate high treatment success rates in hernia repair surgery. Since 2012, the department has been certified as a highly specialized center by the German Hernia Society (DHG). The doctors operate on patients with inguinal, femoral, umbilical, incisional, and anterior abdominal wall hernias. More than 800 hernia repair surgical procedures of varying complexity are performed here every year. Hernia repair surgery is performed using minimally invasive techniques whenever possible, and in complex cases, surgeons use open or hybrid surgical techniques (a combination of open and laparoscopic techniques). The doctors also extensively use modern 3D technologies that ensure high safety of surgical manipulations. 

The department houses the region's only Competence Center for Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery, which was certified by the German Society for General and Visceral Surgery (DGAV). This certification is granted to only the best medical centers that regularly perform a large number of interventions with a very low complication rate. The team of endocrine surgeons has performed more than 2,500 interventions for thyroid diseases. The specialists perform over 200 operations on the thyroid gland and parathyroid glands every year. At the stage of diagnosis and planning of a surgical intervention, nuclear medicine specialists and otolaryngologists are often involved in the therapeutic process. As a rule, the department's doctors manage to perform minimally invasive surgery. When performing the intervention, intraoperative monitoring is used to prevent any damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve. In most cases, a hospital stay after thyroid surgery is 2-3 days, and after 7-10 days, the patient visits the doctor on an outpatient basis. Following the surgical procedure, the specialists prescribe hormone replacement therapy to the patient.

Another primary focus of the department's clinical practice is rectal and anal surgery. Doctors admit patients with hemorrhoids, anal fissures, anal abscesses, and anal fistulas. The treatment of these pathologies usually requires a non-extensive and low-traumatic intervention on an outpatient basis. In addition, the specialists at the medical facility have vast experience in the treatment of fecal incontinence. Surgical interventions such as sphincteroplasty or sacral neuromodulation often ensure the best therapeutic results.

The department's therapeutic options are complemented by providing medical care to patients with colon cancer, which is an aggressive and life-threatening type of oncology. Colon polyps are a precancerous condition for this type of cancer, so when polyps are detected during colonoscopy, they must be removed. If cancer is detected in the early stages, patients receive the most sparing treatment and have the best chance of recovery. In advanced stages of colon cancer, it is impossible to do without a surgical intervention to resect the malignant tumor or part of the intestine. As a rule, a treatment regimen includes conservative methods such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, and others. The optimal complex of therapeutic measures is prescribed on an individual basis after considering the patient's diagnostic results at the interdisciplinary tumor board.

The department's range of surgical services includes:

• General and abdominal surgery
  • Surgery for stomach diseases: ulcers, polyps, malignant tumors, and bleeding
  • Surgery for esophageal diseases: gastroesophageal reflux disease and esophageal cancer
  • Surgery for colon diseases: inflammatory bowel disease, diverticular disease, polyps, and colon cancer
• Endocrine surgery
  • Surgery for thyroid diseases
  • Surgery for parathyroid diseases
  • Surgery for adrenal diseases
• Hepatopancreatobiliary surgery
  • Surgery for liver diseases: jaundice, liver cysts, benign liver tumors, and liver cancer
  • Surgery for gallbladder and bile duct diseases: gallstone disease, gallbladder cancer, and biliary stricture or obstruction
  • Surgery for pancreatic diseases: pancreatic cysts, acute and chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer
• Hernia surgery
  • Surgery for inguinal, femoral, umbilical, incisional, and anterior abdominal wall hernias
• Other medical services