Department of Pediatric Surgery - University Hospital Erlangen

About the Department of Pediatric Surgery at University Hospital Erlangen

The Department of Pediatric Surgery at the University Hospital Erlangen offers the full range of classic and innovative surgical interventions for the treatment of various diseases in children of all age groups – from 0 to 18 years old. The department is proud of its 200 years of tradition and colossal clinical experience in the field of surgical treatment of children. The medical facility performs more than 1,000 operations every year. Many minor interventions are performed on an outpatient basis, so young patients can leave the hospital on the same day. With appropriate clinical indications, the department's pediatric surgeons use minimally invasive techniques, which exclude large soft tissue incisions and severe postoperative pain syndrome. A large number of surgical procedures are for the treatment of inguinal hernias, correction of congenital malformations of genital organs in boys (phimosis, cryptorchidism and others), interventions for Hirschsprung's disease and correction of chest wall deformities. In especially complex clinical cases, pediatric doctors from related specialties are involved in the therapeutic process. The medical facility also offers infrastructure for the leisure of young patients, so they feel as comfortable as possible and can easily tolerate hospitalization.

The Chief Physician of the department is Dr. med. Manuel Besendörfer. The pediatric surgeon has over 21 years of successful clinical experience. Dr. Besendörfer has a perfect command of the classical and modern surgical techniques, and also keeps pace with innovations in the field of surgical treatment of pathologies in children. Deep knowledge in the field of pediatric anatomy allows the specialist to achieve high diagnostic accuracy and effectiveness of surgical treatment. At the same time, he always pays attention to the emotional state of the child.

The department carries out comprehensive diagnostics, including prenatal examinations. The specialists in the field of obstetrics, neonatology and anesthesiology work together with the patient and, if any pathology is detected, develop the optimal treatment tactics. The department's diagnostic options include state-of-the-art ultrasound examinations, Doppler ultrasound scanning, CT scans and MRI, X-ray examinations, ECG, EEG, nuclear diagnostic methods, as well as invasive diagnostic procedures – endoscopy and minimally invasive surgical diagnostics (laparoscopy, thoracoscopy).

The principles of surgical treatment of children and adolescents differ not only due to their age, but also due to the applied techniques. The treatment of diseases detected during intrauterine development, the particularities of the course of pathologies in premature babies, infants and young children, school-age children and adolescents during puberty – all this requires special knowledge and special medical qualifications. The team of the department's doctors has all the necessary skills, expert knowledge and rich experience, which, combined with the use of the very latest surgical techniques, guarantees an excellent treatment result.

Thanks to the department's long-term active research activities, not only sparing surgical techniques have been developed here, but also the technologies of interventions on bones and soft tissues are being regularly improved. Such advanced medical instruments as a "harmonic scalpel" and laser systems allow the doctors to minimize trauma and perform the operation as safely as possible.

Since 1992, minimally invasive surgery has been widely used in the department. To form a surgical access, the doctor only needs to make one or several small skin incisions, through which he inserts special miniature instruments and a camera that broadcasts the image of the operating field to a large screen. Laparoscopic interventions guarantee minimal trauma to healthy tissues, but at the same time they are not inferior to classical operations in terms of therapeutic results.

The department's range of medical services includes:

• Outpatient surgery
  • Inguinal hernia repair
  • Circumcision
  • Biopsy of small, superficial tumors and lymph nodes
  • Removal of catheters
  • Removal of hemangiomas
• Inpatient surgery
  • Cryotherapy/cryosurgery for hemangiomas
  • Minimally invasive surgery in children
  • Surgical repair of thoracic deformities (pectus excavatum, pectus carinatum)
  • Neonatal surgery for congenital malformations of the anterior abdominal wall and chest
  • Colon surgery for congenital innervation disorders (Hirschsprung's disease)
  • Surgery for sphincter and rectal diseases
  • Surgery for solid tumor (benign and malignant) removal in children
• Other diagnostic and therapeutic options