Department of Abdominal, Colorectal, Endocrine and Thoracic Surgery, Hernia Surgery - St. Remigius Hospital Opladen Leverkusen

About the Department of Abdominal, Colorectal, Endocrine and Thoracic Surgery, Hernia Surgery at St. Remigius Hospital Opladen Leverkusen

The Department of Abdominal, Colorectal, Endocrine and Thoracic Surgery, Hernia Surgery at the St. Remigius Hospital Opladen Leverkusen offers surgical treatment of various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, chest wall and mediastinum, rectum, thyroid and parathyroid glands. The department also successfully performs operations for inguinal, umbilical and incisional hernias. The department has 45 beds for patient accommodation. The department has at its disposal two operating rooms equipped with the very latest technology. Therapeutic options include both inpatient and outpatient surgery. With appropriate indications, preference is given to sparing minimally invasive interventions, which can significantly reduce the postoperative recovery period. The department's surgeons take a responsible approach to each clinical case and provide patients with the effective and safe treatment. The Head Physician of the department is Dr. med. Dirk Wassenberg.

The department's pride is its advanced technical base. The medical facility has equipment for laparoscopic surgery, systems for interventional endoscopic procedures, ultrasound dissectors, argon plasma coagulation devices, systems for sonography (including endosonography, transrectal sonography, intraoperative sonography), intraoperative neuromonitoring systems for the prevention of recurrent nerve injury during thyroid surgery, hemostasis devices, surgical lasers, etc. Such advanced technologies, combined with the exceptional professionalism of the department's doctors, guarantee an optimal result and a quick health restoration.

In the field of abdominal surgery, in addition to benign diseases (for example, gastric ulcers, polyps in the stomach and intestines, gastroesophageal reflux disease), special attention is also paid to the treatment of malignant diseases of the digestive tract. Particular focus is on colon cancer surgery. Pathologists, radiologists and oncologists develop an individual treatment program for each patient during interdisciplinary boards. Since a surgical intervention alone is not always sufficient to achieve the desired result, the department's specialists combine operations with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The Colon Cancer Center has been certified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 standards, which confirms the highest quality of treatment. The department's abdominal surgeons also often deal with the treatment of patients with stomach and pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, including liver metastases.

The department also admits patients with rectal pathologies. Colorectal surgeons most commonly deal with such diagnoses as hemorrhoids, anal fistulas, anal fissures, and abscesses. The specialists have excellent professional skills in the field of fecal incontinence surgery. They also successfully perform operations for chronic constipation and pelvic organ prolapse. Surgical options in the field of colorectal surgery are complemented by the surgical treatment of anal cancer.

The department's team of endocrine surgeons is responsible for performing operations to treat thyroid and parathyroid diseases. The advanced surgical techniques, such as neuromonitoring and ultrasound dissection, avoid complications, for example, vocal cord paralysis. The specialization in this field covers the treatment of nodular goiter, Graves' disease, hyperthyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, thyroid tumors and other pathologies. When performing surgical treatment, surgeons strive to remove pathological tissues as much as possible with minimal damage to the healthy ones, and also to avoid revision interventions.

Thoracic surgeons treat benign and malignant diseases of the lungs, pleura, and mediastinum. A special focus is on the treatment of malignant lung tumors. The operation gives the highest chance of cure in case of the limited tumor spread. The size of the tumor and its localization determine the required extent of the surgical intervention. The standard techniques are the removal of one lobe of the lung and organ-preserving operations, as well as the removal of the entire lung (pneumonectomy). In most patients, organ-preserving surgery avoids pneumonectomy, which used to be the standard surgical technique. This improves the quality of life of patients, and also provides more options for follow-up radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Another priority area of ​​the department's work is the surgical treatment of lung metastases. Thanks to a new surgical method using a diode laser, it is possible to destroy secondary lesions as accurately as possible, reducing damage to the healthy tissues by 90%.

The department's therapeutic offer is complemented by the treatment of hernias: inguinal, umbilical and incisional. Surgeons perform various types of hernioplasty to repair hernias, including totally extraperitoneal hernioplasty with a polypropylene mesh, transabdominal hernia repair with a polypropylene mesh, and Lichtenstein operation. All hernia repair procedures are performed by the department's surgeons using minimally invasive techniques, so the hospitalization period is minimal, and the patient can return to normal life as quickly as possible. In addition, such operations leave no scars, and there is practically no pain syndrome.

The department's key clinical areas include:

• Abdominal surgery
  • Surgical treatment of benign and malignant bowel diseases
    • Bowel cancer
    • Diverticular disease
  • Surgical treatment of benign and malignant stomach diseases
    • Stomach cancer
    • Stomach ulcer
    • Benign stomach neoplasms
    • Gastroesophageal reflux disease
  • Surgical treatment of benign and malignant liver diseases
    • Liver tumors
    • Liver metastases
  • Surgical treatment of benign and malignant pancreatic diseases
    • Pancreatic cancer
    • Acute and chronic pancreatitis
    • Tumors of the endocrine section of the pancreas
• Colorectal surgery
  • Surgical treatment of rectal diseases
    • Anal cancer
    • Hemorrhoids
    • Anal fistulas, fissures and abscesses
    • Chronic constipation
    • Pelvic organ prolapse
    • Fecal incontinence
• Surgical treatment of hernias
  • Surgical treatment of inguinal, umbilical and incisional hernias
• Endocrine surgery
  • Surgical treatment of thyroid and parathyroid diseases
    • Nodular goiter
    • Graves' disease
    • Hyperthyroidism
    • Hyperparathyroidism
    • Thyroid and parathyroid tumors
• Thoracic surgery
  • Surgical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer
  • Surgical removal of lung metastases (surgery using a diode laser)
  • Surgical treatment of pleural mesothelioma (pleural cancer)
  • Surgical treatment of mediastinal tumors
  • Surgical treatment of chest wall tumors
  • Pectus excavatum correction
• Other surgical services