Surgery – treatment in the Best Hospitals

The necessity to undergo surgery is a common cause of traveling abroad. Thousands of patients annually look for an unavailable or unapproved surgery overseas. Surgeons abroad offer minimally invasive, endoscopic and robotic interventions. They use intraoperative histologic assessment of removed tissues in patients with oncology, intraoperative navigation systems in patients with pathologies of the brain and spinal cord, and other measures that make surgeries safe and efficient. You can visit any surgical hospital in the world as a medical tourist.

Content

1. Thoracic surgeries
2. Abdominal surgeries
3. Neurological surgeries
4. Leading hospitals and prices for treatment

Thoracic surgeries

Thoracic surgeries are most often carried out in people with pathologies of the lungs, bronchi, heart, large blood vessels, and chest wall. Thoracotomy (chest opening) is a traumatic intervention that requires a long recovery. That is why surgeons prefer carrying out thoracoscopic interventions, including the robotic ones.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has a number of indications, including:

• Lung and chest biopsy
• Lung surgeries (in lung cancer, emphysema)
• Removing an abnormal accumulation of fluid or air around the lungs (pneumothorax, hydrothorax)
• Hiatal hernia repair
• Interventions on the esophagus, up to esophagectomy
• Thymus gland removal
• Relieving hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating)
• Certain interventions on ribs and spine, pericardium, and diaphragm

After giving a patient a general anesthetic, a surgeon makes small incisions between the ribs and inserts a thoracoscope – a small tube with a camera. Then a healthcare specialist carries out all the necessary manipulations with the help of tiny surgical instruments that are inserted through additional small incisions. Most patients are discharged from the surgery clinics abroad a few days after VATS.

Abdominal surgeries

The most common abdominal surgeries are appendectomy, cholecystectomy, small and large bowel resections, anorectal surgery, treatment of reflux disease, hernia surgery, and Cesarean section. In the last decades, laparoscopy has become the most successful surgical innovation in general surgery abroad. Laparoscopic interventions are minimally invasive surgeries performed through 2-3 small incisions in the abdomen. They demonstrate shorter recovery, better cosmetic results, and an earlier return to usual activity.

People often travel abroad to undergo HIPEC – the hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. This is a special treatment for patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis – a malignant condition resistant to other therapeutic options. First, surgeons remove all the visible tumors in the abdominal cavity. Next, they rinse the abdominal cavity with a heated solution of chemotherapeutic agents. HIPEC is effective even in patients with advanced cancer.

In search of which people go abroad, one more demanded surgery is the placement of LINX – the reflux management system. LINX allows patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) to forget about worrying symptoms and constant intake of medications. During the intervention, a ring made of titanium beads with a magnetic core is implanted around the esophagus to strengthen its sphincter. The efficacy of the procedure after a 5-year follow-up is 99%.

Neurological surgeries

Neurological surgeries include interventions on the brain and spinal cord. When treating such pathologies, neurosurgeons try to spare every millimeter of the central nervous system tissue. This prevents the development of neurological deficits after the intervention.

Neurological surgeries are carried out in patients with malignancies and benign neoplasms of the brain and spinal cord, vascular brain tumors and aneurysms, cranial bone defects, spinal disc herniation and spinal stenosis, etc.

In the specialized medical centers, targeted manipulations on the brain are carried out with the help of a Visualase MRI-guided laser ablation system. It allows destroying soft tissues inside the skull (e.g. brain metastases or epileptogenic foci) via a 3.2 mm hole without craniotomy. Another option for precise and sparing brain interventions is stereotactic radiosurgery with the help of Gamma Knife and CyberKnife systems.

Leading hospitals and prices for treatment

The field of surgery includes many subspecialties, like thoracic surgery, abdominal surgery, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, head and neck surgery, etc. Although there is no one the best healthcare facility for all types of surgeries, here are some of the leading surgery clinics abroad:

• Regio Hospital Pinneberg, Germany
• HELIOS Clinic Krefeld, Germany
• Academic Hospital Brothers of Mercy Munich, Germany
• University Hospital of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany
• Charite University Hospital Berlin, Germany

Treatment prices depend on the age of a patient, type of surgery, duration of hospital stay, and the hospital itself. For instance, the cost of GERD treatment with the help of the LINX system in Regio Hospital Pinneberg is 23,250 EUR, and in Charite University Hospital Berlin it is 50,900 EUR. You can find more prices for diagnostics and treatment on the Booking Health website.

Authors: 

The article was edited by medical experts, board-certified doctors Dr. Nadezhda Ivanisova and Dr. Vadim Zhiliuk. For the treatment of the conditions referred to in the article, you must consult a doctor; the information in the article is not intended for self-medication!

Sources:

MedicineNet

Healthline