Centre for Surgical Medicine

Clinic for Trauma Surgery and Orthopaedics

Our clinic treats patients with all kind of injuries, effects of injuries and diseases of the musculoskeletal system. To fulfill our maximum-care commitment, we are at severly injured patients’ and polytraumatised patients’ disposal around the clock. Emergency room and poly trauma treatment are managed by us. As a supraregional trauma centre, we are certified by the German Association for Trauma Surgery and medically qualified as final instance of the Trauma Network in the Stuttgart region. We are authorised for BG Injury Type Procedure.

Apart from trauma surgery, we focus mainly on orthopaedic surgery in this clinic. We offer consultation, examination and treatment to patients with consequences of trauma, arthrosis and diseases and tumours of the musculoskeletal system during special consultation hours.

Treatment is provided according to high quality standard and state-of-the-art technical equipment. These include endoscopic and minimal invasive surgical techniques with intraoperative 3D imaging and computer-guided navigation.

Treatment and care priorities

  • Care of polytrauma patients and severely injured patients (certified for the VAV/Injury Type Procedure) as designated by the Employers' Liability Insurance Association)
  • Supraregional trauma centre affiliated to Stuttgart Trauma Network of the DGU
  • Stabilisation, joint reconstruction, treatment of fractures of the whole musculoskeletal system
  • Spine and pelvic injuries
  • Joint endoprosthesis (hip, knee, ankle, shoulder, elbow)
  • Revision endoprosthesis, exchange of prosthesis
  • Re-positioning operations in response to joint degeneration
  • Septic surgery of the musculoskeletal system
  • Spine surgery in case of consequences of accidents and degenerative alterations
  • Corrective surgeries in response to accident-induced malpositions
  • Medical surgery due to tumours on bones and of the skeletal system
  • Endoscopic and minimally invasive surgical techniques on the whole skeleton system

Special offers and facilities

  • Special consultation hour for the anatomic regions
  • Interdisciplinary treatment in competence centres (spine, tumour diseases, fractures common among elderly people, treatment of diabetic foot, reconstructive surgery)
  • Interdisciplinary surgical Intermediate Care Ward
  • Interdisciplinary ward for short-term surgery patients
  • Inpatient pain therapy in cooperation with the clinic for anaesthesiology and surgical intensive medicine
  • Specialised physical and occupational therapy
  • Case management

Distinguished procedures in diagnosis and therapy

  • Navigation systems for endoprosthetics, axial correction, spine surgery
  • Intraoperative quality assurance via 3-D X-ray imaging
  • Minimally-invasive spine surgery (kyphoplasty, endoscopic access, percutaneous stabilisation, replacement of vertebral disks and vertebrae replacement)
  • Minimally-invasive pelvic surgery with percutaneously navigated fitting
  • Minimally-invasive knee-ligament surgery (anterior and posterior cruciate ligament)
  • Minimally-invasive shoulder surgery is response to degeneration and injuries
  • Differentiated foot surgery and forefoot surgery
  • Arthroscopic surgical techniques for shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, ankle
  • Use of growth hormones and cartilage-cell therapy, bone replacement materials

Studies / scientific activities

  • Retroscpective analysis of fracture healing after dens fracture of very old patients
  • Prospective comparison of different surgical procedures after dens fractures of very old patients
  • Proscpectively randomised multicentre study for surgical treatment of incomplete burst fractures on the thoracolumbar passage (“RASPUTHINE”)
  • Multicentre study of the German Association for Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (DVSE) for inverse shoulder prosthesis
  • Exposure and significance of prosthesis registers in the knee endoprosthesis field, doctoral thesis of C. Raab
  • P.A.R.T.Y. Performance of a “proof of concept” of the established global prevention programme for pupils
  • Prof. Knob is the head of the Commission for Quality Assurance of the DWG

Quality assurance

  • Quality circle for emergency room management
  • Interdisciplinary emergency room training
  • Supraregional trauma centre, certified by DGU
  • Trauma network of the region of Stuttgart, certified by DGU
  • Participation in the DGU trauma register
  • Participation in interdisciplinary tumour conferences
  • Participation in BQS data collection
  • Monthly discussion of complicated cases
  • Regular internal continuing education courses
  • Internal indication conference
  • Internal infection statistics, analysis of complicated cases
  • Continuing education monitoring, journal for continuing education of medical specialists

Hospital numbers

2015 2016 2017  
51 48 48 Available Beds, inpatient
2.159 2.122 2.169 Inpatient Cases
5.9 6.3 5.7 Length of stay in days

Selected services (number of cases)

2015 2016 2017  
273 283 227 Interventions on the spine
183 244 225 Endoprosthetics
313 328 341 Helicopter landings
675 747 806 Emergency room patients
158 156 148 Of them seriously injured and polytrauma patients in the emergency room