Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery

The department specialises in minimally invasive surgery, in particular. This refers to surgical procedures in which operations are performed using camera systems. Therefore, only "minimal" incisions are needed to be able to use the camera and instruments. In abdominal surgery, this corresponds to laparoscopic surgery. The advantages for the patient are not only the more favourable cosmetic result, but also the reduction of pain after the operation, faster recovery, earlier discharge from inpatient treatment, and faster regaining of physical resilience.

Using modern technology, the Department of General and Visceral Surgery performs not only standard minimally invasive operations such as gallbladder removal, appendectomy, sigmoid resection for diverticulitis, anti-reflux surgery (fundoplicatio) and hernia repair for incisional or inguinal hernias, but also highly complex, minimally invasive operations (e.g. partial bowel removal, bowel cancer surgery, stomach surgery, splenectomy, partial pancreatectomy, liver surgery, thyroid surgery, and obesity surgery, such as gastric tube surgery or gastric bypasses).

The department has been successfully certified as a reference centre for minimally invasive surgery and as a reference centre for obesity and metabolic surgery by the Surgical Working Group for Minimally Invasive Surgery and the German Society for General and Visceral Surgery, since 2011. In Germany, there are currently only 15 specialised centres with this high level of certification (as of 2016). For certification, many criteria required for successful treatment must be fulfilled, such as the minimum number of complex laparoscopic operations performed, the expertise of the surgeons, the infrastructure, the high quality of treatment, etc. The certificate is awarded after regular audits with quality controls.