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www.uniklinik-duesseldorf.de/gastroenterologie

The clinic covers a broad variety of medical areas: these include diagnostic investigation and therapy of diseases of the liver, the gastrointestinal tract, the pancreas as well as the treatment of gastrointestinal (gastric, intestinal and pancreatic) tumours and liver cancer. High-tech endoscopy, sonography and gastrointestinal function tests are part of the core competence.

The clinic is also a supra-regional centre of diagnostic investigation and therapy of chronic liver diseases and their complications.

In addition, it is the only certified “Center of Infectiology” in Northrhine-Westfalia. All forms of infections including hepatitis, HIV and tropical infectious diseases are treated here.

Patient care

The number of out-patient departments clearly demonstrates how diversified the competence of this clinic is. Patients with different diseases of the oesophagus, the stomach, the intestine, the bile, the pancreas and the liver are treated at the gastroenterologic out-patient department.

The out-patient department for viral hepatitis is a supra-regional contact point for patients with chronic hepatitis B, C or D. Several thousand patients receive advice and care in the hepatitis department. Especially in the therapy of chronic hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) substantial progress has been made in recent years. While for HCV infection the rate of recovery was as low as 10 per cent at the beginning of the 90s, it has up to now risen to 50 to 70 per cent.

Patients who have had a liver transplant are cared for in the out-patient department for liver transplantation. In addition, there are special departments e.g. for AIDS, carcinomas of the liver and rare, but severe hereditary metabolic diseases. The clinic is the major center for the treatment of “Gaucher’s disease” in Germany. This hereditary enzyme deficiency causes lipids to be stored in the body which among others damage the bones.

A further focal point of the clinic is tropical medicine. The out-patient department of tropical medicine is already the busiest in NRW. It is the most important contact point of the region for tropical diseases, vaccinations, travel advice and examinations concerning physical fitness before travelling to the tropics. It is of great significance not only for public health but also for locally-based industrial companies who are active in foreign countries.

In addition, the department of tropical medicine takes medical care for the German Developmental Serive (Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst; DED) for five years now. The out-patient department of tropical medicine provides the vaccination service against yellow fever in the federal state of NRW. A high-security area for the treatment of life-threatening tropical infectious diseases is planned.

The clinic is equipped with every modern diagnostic and therapeutic facility. Many examinations are today possible using sonography, fibroscanning or gentle endoscopic procedures. In many cases therapeutic measures are applied at the same time which spare some patients impairing operations.

Research and Teaching

One of the main areas of scientific studies is the research into infectious diseases and diseases of the liver. Because of a high mortality rate and a tendency to chronification liver diseases are of great socio-medical importance, constituting the most frequently recorded cause of death for patients under 40 years of age. Progressive liver diseases may also impair other organs. The clinic is internationally recognised for its basic research in areas such as liver metabolism and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and the pancreas. The most modern methods of molecular and cell biology and analytics are available here. In research projects there is interdisciplinary co-operation between medical doctors, analytical chemists and biologists. The clinic sees itself as a research clinic of leading medicine of internationally competitive claim.

The Clinic of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology heads the Collaborative Research Center (SFB 575) “Experimental Hepatolgy” and decisively participates in the competence networks Hepatology, HIV and Tropical Diseases. The scientific findings of research are quickly introduced into clinical practice: e.g. patients with hepatitis C or AIDS are provided with newly developed drugs in clinical studies before they are put on the market.

Curriculum Vitae of Prof. Dr. med. Dieter Häussinger

	Education in medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
1976:	MD thesis
1977:	approbation as physician
1984:	Habilitation for Internal Medicine
1985 - 1990:	Heisenberg-Fellow of the German Science Foundation
1986 - 1989:	Specialization in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology
1988:	Appointment as Professor at Freiburg University
1989:	Siegfried Thannhauser-Prize
1991:	Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Prize
1991 - 1994:	Hermann and Lilly Schilling Professorship
1994:	Appointment as Ordinary Professor for Internal Medicine and Director of the Clinic
1994/1995:	Guest-professorships at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Siena (Italy)
1998 - 2002:	Dean of the Medical Faculty of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
2002:	Robert-Pfleger-Forschungspreis
since 2002:	Member of the Medicine Committee of the German Research Council
since 2000:	Coordinator of the Collaborative Research Center  575 “Experimental Hepatology”
since 2002:	Chairman of the Administrative Board of the Institue for Environmental Medicine Düsseldorf
since 2002:	Chairman of the Scientific Board of the German Institute for Nutritional Research, Potsdam
since 2005:	Chairman of the Center for Internal Medicine and Neurology
	Professor Häussinger is the author of more than 500 scientific articles and co-editor of ten books, a member of numerous international societies, several special research units, academies, foundations and boards as well as co-editor of scientific journals. He is also a member of the task force groups “Bio Terrorism” and “Influenza Pandemic” of the federal state of NRW
	Since 1994 he is Ordinary of Internal Medicine at the Heinrich Heine University of Duesseldorf and head of the Clinic of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology