University Hospital Düsseldorf
Dusseldorf, Germany 
Head of the Department
Prof. Dr. Wolfram T. Knoefel
Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery
The Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery is a modern supra-maximal care clinic that enables accurate diagnosis and treatment of all general, visceral and chest conditions that may require surgery. The pediatric surgery unit offers medical services in areas that cover the entire spectrum of pediatric surgical diseases and procedures.
Major services offered in the department include the surgical operations of the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. The focus of the department is on the surgical treatment of malignant tumors. In addition to standard surgical techniques, innovative treatment concepts are also used in this area which is very useful even in seemingly hopeless cases. The innovative techniques have given the doctors a high rate of success in the removal of malignant liver tumors. In the field of pancreatic surgery, apart from the removal of malignant tumors, the main focus is on the surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis.
In addition to this, the department also takes part in bowel surgery, thoracic surgery, all kinds of surgeries involving the gastrointestinal tract, bariatric surgeries, removal of tumors from the internal organs, and surgeries of the endocrine glands especially the removal of tumors of the thyroid, parathyroid glands adrenal glands, and pituitary glands. Interdisciplinary therapy concepts enable a long-term therapeutic success after a curative operation, especially in sarcomas of the abdomen. In the case of sarcomas of the extremities, function-preserving and reconstructive interventions are in the foreground in order to avoid amputations as far as possible.
The department also increasingly uses minimally invasive surgical procedures. Their minimally invasive surgery has become well-established particularly in hernia (gallbladder, gallbladder, colon, spleen, adrenal) surgery
The Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery at the University Hospital Düsseldorf is specialized in:
- Oncological Surgery
- Hepatobiliary surgery
- Pancreatic surgery
- Minimally invasive surgery
- Colorectal surgery
- Thoracic surgery
- Pediatric surgery
- Endocrine surgery (surgery of the endocrine glands)
- Bariatric surgery
- Esophageal surgery
- Gastric surgery
- Surgery of soft tissue sarcomas
- Prof. Knoefel studied medicine at the University of Hamburg, the University of Lausanne, Harvard Medical School in Boston, and School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. After admission to medical practice, he worked in the Department of Surgery at the University Hospital of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, as well as in the Department of Surgery at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf.
- In 1993, Prof. Knoefel was awarded the title of Medical Specialist.
- In 1996, he defended his doctoral thesis on the subject "Disorders of microcirculation in acute pancreatitis".
- In 2003, the doctor hold the position of the Head of the Department of General, Abdominal and Pediatric Surgery at the University Hospital Duesseldorf.
- The main focuses of his clinical activities include the surgical treatment of malignant tumors of the liver, biliary tract, and pancreas, thyroid, lung, and rectum.
- The research activities focus on the study of metastatic tumor cells, systemic diseases in malignant tumors of the thorax and abdomen, regeneration of the liver, stem cells, ischemia, and perfusion of the liver, targeted therapy in neuroendocrine tumors,
Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery
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