Department of Orthopedics, Trauma Surgery and Foot Surgery - St. Joseph Hospital Haan

About the Department of Orthopedics, Trauma Surgery and Foot Surgery at St. Joseph Hospital Haan

The Department of Orthopedics, Trauma Surgery and Foot Surgery at the St. Joseph Hospital Haan offers accurate diagnostics, conservative and surgical treatment of musculoskeletal diseases and injuries. The department's doctors regularly perform arthroscopic interventions on the knee, hip, shoulder, elbow and ankle joints. The department cooperates closely with the Joint Replacement Center (endoCert certificate), which successfully performs total and partial knee and hip arthroplasty. An integral part of the work of the specialists of the healthcare facility is the treatment of foot diseases. In addition, the department has the status of a certified Center of Excellence for Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation. The therapeutic technique is used to repair cartilage defects and is available only in highly specialized medical centers in Europe. The department's patients receive medical care on an inpatient and outpatient basis. Thanks to the availability of innovative equipment for minimally invasive surgery, even major surgical interventions can be performed without hospitalization. The department is headed by Dr. med. Hans Bayer-Helms.

Arthroscopic interventions are widely used in the department for the treatment of lesions of the knee, hip, shoulder, elbow and ankle joints. When performing such operations, the surgeon makes a small incision through which he inserts an endoscope to examine or treat pathological changes in the joint. The main benefit of such interventions is their minimal invasiveness, which allows patients to recover as quickly as possible after treatment. Arthroscopic surgery is also often used for a cartilage transplant, during which the defects in the cartilage lining are repaired with autologous stem cells.

The department's doctors also specialize in joint-preserving surgery on the knee, hip, shoulder and ankle joints. When planning therapy, the physicians set themselves the goal of preserving the affected joint as much as possible, eliminating discomfort and restoring or improving the joint function. The department uses a variety of treatment options that are selected for each patient individually.

The medical facility offers all methods of correction of congenital and acquired foot malformations. These include interventions to repair toe deformities (for example, hallux valgus, claw toes), Albee-Delbet osteosynthesis, corrective surgery for flat valgus foot, treatment of ankle osteoarthritis, treatment of Achilles tendon injuries and diseases, etc. In most cases, the surgeons use low traumatic microsurgical techniques, so the patient does not need a long recovery, and he can return to his usual life as quickly as possible.

The department's team of doctors also provides highly effective medical care to the patients with vertebral compression fractures. In such cases, the specialists usually resort to vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. Both procedures are minimally invasive, performed under general anesthesia or local anesthesia. The essence of the intervention is the injection of special bone cement into the affected vertebra in order to stabilize it. Whenever required, the physicians also simultaneously implant a special balloon, which is inflated until the natural height of the damaged vertebral bodies is restored. After the intervention, the patient wears a supporting corset for some time, after which the attending physician prescribes a set of exercises to strengthen the back muscles.

The department's special offer is autologous chondrocyte transplantation for the treatment of full-thickness cartilage defects. The procedure involves the harvesting of the patient's own cartilage cells (using a minimally invasive technique), their follow-up processing and cultivation with homologous serum in the laboratory. The final stage of the treatment is a revision intervention, during which the surgeon transplants the required number of obtained chondrocytes to the patient. The therapeutic manipulation prevents irreversible damage to the cartilage tissue and thus preserves the patient's own joints.

The department's key clinical focuses include:

• Orthopedics
  • Arthroscopic surgery
    • Interventions on the knee joint
      • Meniscus tears
      • Cruciate ligament tears
      • Cartilage lesions
      • Patellar instability
    • Interventions on the shoulder joint
      • Impingement syndrome
      • Shoulder dislocation
      • Shoulder arthrosis
    • Interventions on the hip joint
      • Impingement syndrome
      • Articular lip tear
      • Cartilage lesions
    • Interventions on the upper part of the ankle joint
      • Arthrosis
      • Osteochondritis dissecans
    • Interventions on the elbow joint
      • Arthrosis
      • Ligament injuries
  • Joint-sparing surgery on the knee, hip, shoulder and ankle joints, including repair of the axis of the lower extremities
  • Autologous chondrocyte implantation (cartilage tissue transplantation)
• Traumatology
  • Treatment of injuries of varying severity: bone fractures, tendon and muscle tears, multiple injuries
  • Treatment of the consequences of injuries (for example, reconstruction for the injuries of the Achilles tendon and cruciate ligament)
  • Conservative and surgical treatment of spinal injuries
    • Vertebroplasty
    • Kyphoplasty
    • Radiofrequency facet denervation 
• Foot surgery
  • Correction of congenital and acquired toe defects
  • Treatment of foot and upper ankle osteoarthritis 
  • Corrective interventions for planovalgus foot deformity
  • Treatment of Achilles tendon ruptures
• Other medical services