Kassel: Innovative pectus excavatum surgery

A robot behind the operating table: at first glance, this sounds weird. However, statistics show that robotic surgical systems are of great benefit to patients and doctors. Helios Hospitals are implementing the state-of-the-art da Vinci system.

Robot da Vinci has assisted visceral surgeons and urologists in more than 100 interventions at St. Johannes Helios Hospital. in Duisburg The result for the patients is unambiguously positive. Currently, the next departments, such as gynaecology and thoracic surgery, are being trained to operate the panel.

He has four arms, is much more mobile and can see ten times better than a human: meet the new colleague — da Vinci Xi. The robotic surgeon supports medical doctors at the Amper Hospital. Thus, Dachau now houses the most modern robotic system of its kind in the whole of Upper Bavaria.

The Helios Hospital Erfurt announces successful recertification of the Pancreatic and Colon Cancer Therapeutic Centre. For the first time ever, the Gastric Cancer Therapeutic Centre was certified as one of two hospitals in Thuringia.

Until now, surgery was almost the only alternative for tumors located in the wall of the stomach or duodenum. But now a new endoscopic procedure is available. It makes it possible not only to detect unclear findings or tumors located deep in the stomach wall during a gastroscopy, but also to remove them safely and completely. The Helios Hospital Duisburg-Homberg is the first hospital in Duisburg to use the new procedure.

The Colorectal Cancer Center at the Helios St. Johannes Clinic has been certified by the German Cancer Society. It certifies that the Hamborn site is of particularly high quality in the treatment of patients with colorectal tumors.

The Clinic for General and Visceral Surgery at Helios University Hospital Wuppertal is now under new management: Prof. Dr. med. Florian Gebauer has been Clinic Director since December 1, 2022, replacing Prof. Dr. med. Hubert Zirngibl, who will remain with the hospital as Chief Physician until the end of the year and as Senior Consultant from the new year.

Helios Hospital Krefeld, Helios St. Josefshospital Uerdingen and Helios Cäcilien-Hospital Hüls will operate as one hospital under the umbrella of Helios Hospital Krefeld GmbH from January 2023. In terms of the number of inpatients, Krefeld thus currently has the largest hospital in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Visceral Oncology Center of the Clinic for General, Visceral and Minimally Invasive Surgery headed by Prof. Dr. med. Marc H. Jansen consists of a certified colorectal cancer center and a certified pancreatic cancer center. There are only eight of these specialized facilities in Berlin. With the renewed successful systematic review by the German Cancer Society (DKG), the clinic demonstrates - in the truest sense - excellent treatment quality.

With Prof. Dr. med. Roger Wahba, the Department of General, Visceral and Oncological Surgery at Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch has a new chief physician since August 14, 2023. He succeeds Prof. Dr. med. Martin Strik. Prof. Dr. med. Wahba was most recently Managing Senior Physician at the Clinic for General, Visceral, Tumor and Transplant Surgery at the University Hospital of Cologne and from now on will be applying his extensive expertise and many years of experience at Berlin's most modern hospital.

Almost every tenth woman suffers from hypothyroidism. This means that women are affected by this disease significantly more often than men. Our head physician at the Clinic for General and Visceral Surgery at the Helios Hospital Rottweil explains which symptoms apply to women in particular and what patients should look out for.

Life with an artificial bowel outlet seems unimaginable to many, but for around 200,000 people, a stoma is part of their everyday life. It is usually the result of a serious bowel disease. To mark World Stoma Day on October 2, the Visceral Oncology Center at Helios Park-Hospital Leipzig is providing information about life with a stoma and insights into the emotional world of stoma patients.

In an important interim audit by the German Cancer Society, the Helios Colorectal Cancer Center in the north of Duisburg once again achieved excellent results - the commission was particularly impressed by the modern surgical procedures and the low complication rate.

In Germany, around 61,000 people are diagnosed with a malignant bowel tumor every year. Thanks to optimized diagnostic and treatment options, a colorectal cancer diagnosis does not have to be a death sentence. At the certified Helios Colorectal Center Berlin-Buch, patients are successfully treated by interdisciplinary specialists with a high level of expertise and excellent equipment.

Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch offers thyroid patients the so-called ABBA method (Axillo-bilateral-breast approach). The special feature of this method is that there is no incision on the neck at all. There is therefore no visible scar there later. Saskia Maier from Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, traveled to Berlin-Buch especially to have her enlarged thyroid nodule removed using this method. The Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch is one of the few hospitals in Germany to offer this complex keyhole surgery.

With the introduction of the da Vinci Xi robotic assistance system earlier this year and the establishment of the Ost-Brandenburg Robotics Centre, Helios Hospital Bad Saarow is expanding its range of highly specialized medical services and consolidating its position as a leading medical facility in the region.

With Dr. med. Tobias Steinke as the new head physician, the vascular medicine center at Helios Hospital Krefeld is setting a special focus for patients with chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis. Born in Essen, he is one of the leading specialists in the field of dialysis access surgery. He laid the foundations for his later medical career at Lutherplatz.  

Prof. Dr. med. Roger Wahba is an expert in the field of liver surgery and has been Chief Physician of General, Visceral and Oncological Surgery at Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch since August 2023. He has now performed an ALPPS operation (Associating Liver Partition and Portal Vein Ligation) here for the first time, successfully treating a 44-year-old patient. All of the young mother's liver metastases were removed in a two-stage surgical procedure. The major liver surgery operation marks a new approach to liver surgery at Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch and probably saved the patient's life.

With the da Vinci Xi surgical robotic system, installed at the clinic in May 2024, patients can undergo highly precise minimally invasive procedures that provide maximum safety and gentleness.

Today, many details are crucial in the treatment of colorectal cancer in order to maximize the chances of recovery. Every detail counts for successful treatment - even in rectal cancer.

The Helios Hanseklinikum Stralsund is one of only a few clinics worldwide to offer Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) with Nanoknife for advanced pancreatic cancer. We have treated well over one hundred patients since 2015.

Only a few hospitals in Germany are certified by the German Society for General and Visceral Surgery (DGAV) as a “Reference Center for Surgical Endoscopy.”

Professor Attila Dubecz, a recognized expert in robotic surgery, has been appointed the new Head of the Department of General and Visceral Surgery at Helios Hospital Erfurt.

At the beginning of 2022, 49-year-old Jeannette von Brietzke was diagnosed with a tumor in her rectum. During her treatment at Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch, Prof. Dr. Roger Wahba and his team were able to use organ-preserving therapy with intensified radio-chemotherapy and thus avoid a major operation with an artificial anus. 

When 58-year-old winemaker Holger Lehmann suddenly could no longer swallow properly, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Professor Roger Wahba successfully carried out the treatment, and today Holger can once again enjoy the wines from his own vineyard.

Until 30 years ago, a diagnosis of peritoneal cancer meant certain death. This is because the cancer usually occurs late in the course of the disease as a metastasis of another oncological lesion. For patients at this stage of the disease, there are now two new treatment options at the Helios Hospital in Schwerin.

When you see Dieter Damm, you wouldn't think that he had been on the operating table less than ten days earlier and had survived a challenging operation: He is fit and dynamic and enjoys talking about himself and his life.

Helios Hospital Wuppertal is strengthening its focus on esophageal and gastric surgery: patients now have access to advanced minimally invasive methods, and the clinic is expanding its capabilities to treat even the most complex cases.

Niklas Hilgers will not soon forget the summer of 2024: with acute chest pain and sudden shortness of breath, the 21-year-old was taken by ambulance to Helios Hospital Kassel while at work. Diagnosis: pneumothorax — a sudden lung collapse that was fortunately recognized in time and treated immediately in hospital. But it was not only the collapse. The acute situation marked a turning point in a completely different medical story for Niklas: Dr. Christian Meyer identified a pronounced pectus excavatum.