Colorectal Cancer Centre

This ward is a founding member and cooperation partner of the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Integrative Colorectal Cancer Centre (IDZB), in which gastroenterologists, oncologists, surgeons, and other cooperation partners in the region have joined forces to optimise the treatment of colorectal cancer. Prof. Türler has been a board member of the centre since 2016.

The aim of the Colorectal Cancer Centre is to provide optimally coordinated, interdisciplinary colorectal cancer treatment. In addition to the hospital's own measures, the processes between the physicians in private practice and the hospital are optimised.

The objectives of the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Integrative Colorectal Cancer Centre (IDZB) include:

• Improving the quality of care and the chance of curing patients with colorectal cancer.
• Extending the lifespan of patients with colorectal cancer and improving the quality of life of those affected.
• Optimised timely diagnosis, treatment, care, and follow-up of patients with colorectal cancer.
• Orientation of diagnostics, therapy, and aftercare to existing guidelines and evidence-based medicine.
• Quality assurance with regular quality controls to improve the efficiency of the colorectal centre.

In 2009, Johanniter Hospital Bonn, as part of the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Integrative Colorectal Cancer Centre, was the first Colorectal Cancer Centre in the region certified with the recommendation of the German Cancer Society. Quality management within the comprehensive Colorectal Cancer Centre prescribes the fulfilment of minimum requirements and guarantees care according to guidelines and the latest knowledge. Benchmarking with other nationally participating hospitals is carried out regularly to check the quality of the results. In the last benchmark, the Johanniter-Krankenhaus received top marks in treatment and process quality among the 261 certified colorectal cancer centres in Germany, placing it among the top 5% of the best colorectal cancer centres in Germany.

This ward has specialised in colorectal cancer treatment for many years and has a high level of expertise in the analysis of symptoms and signs of cancer, and in the field of minimally invasive colorectal cancer surgery. This results in faster recovery of the patient after surgery and a significant reduction in postoperative problems. In 2015, initial prospective randomised studies showed that minimally invasive colorectal cancer surgery also improves the long-term prognosis of patients (COLOR II study). At the clinic, 70-80% of colorectal cancer patients undergo minimally invasive surgery, compared to only 10-15% nationwide.

A very important topic for us is maintaining the quality of life of rectal cancer patients after surgery. In this regard, we carry out "pelvic neuromonitoring" during the operation. This makes it possible to operate much more gently on the nerves, which preserves bladder function and also sexual function after the operation.