Prof. Dr. med. Ferdinand Köckerling

About 400,000 hernia surgeries are performed every year in German-speaking countries. Most of them concern the classic inguinal hernia: approximately every third man undergoes such an intervention in the course of his life. However, each hernia is different - and it is precisely for this reason that it is important to entrust yourself to an absolute specialist. Professor Ferdinand Köckerling is one such specialist, who is even renowned worldwide for his expertise.

Twenty to forty percent of all men experience a hernia throughout their lives - usually an inguinal hernia. The reasons for this can be quite simple: Sometimes constipation is enough, more often heavy lifting is responsible. A highly qualified specialist can quickly and reliably tell which hernia it is. And of course he also knows which treatment promises the greatest success and enables the quickest return to an ideally symptom-free everyday life.

Minimally invasive surgery: Gentle approach

Prof. Ferdinand Köckerling, an absolute specialist, is the head of the Clinic for Surgery, Visceral and Vascular Surgery at the Vivantes Clinic Spandau. Together with a highly competent team, Prof. Köckerling generally performs minimally invasive surgery because this particularly gentle procedure leaves only tiny, barely visible wounds. As a result, the healing process is considerably faster: Patients can walk up and down again shortly after surgery of an inguinal hernia, a scar or hiatal hernia. Prof. Köckerling even expressly recommends walking around in the corridors of the Vivantes hospital.

Prof. Köckerling and his team even developed a particularly innovative method called "Endoscopic-Assisted Linea Alba Reconstruction plus Mesh Augmentation" on their own initiative: this "ELAR-plus technique" focuses on the reconstruction of the straight abdominal muscles. The abdominal muscles are sutured in the middle, while the abdominal wall is reinforced with a high-quality net.

Development of surgery method: „ELAR-plus-technique“

With the specially developed "ELAR-plus technique", the risk of a recurring hernia was reduced to an absolute minimum. Normally, the abdominal wall is simply sutured up again, especially for smaller hernias - thus, another hernia in the area operated on is often inevitable. This is exactly what Prof. Köckerling's method prevents almost entirely.

It was not only with this technique, which caused a stir worldwide, that the hernia specialist established the international reputation of the Vivantes Clinic Spandau. The professional world keeps looking to Berlin, where Prof. Dr. med. Ferdinand Köckerling and his team set standards with state-of-the-art equipment. The innovative methods of endoscopy include extremely complex miniature cameras with light sources and high-resolution video monitors, which ensure maximum transparency and safety during the surgery.

In addition to his masterful expertise in minimally invasive and laparoscopic procedures, Prof. Köckerling naturally has a lot of experience as a specialist in open hernia surgery. In this field, he treats abdominal wall hernias of all types and degrees of severity. His range of treatment methods includes all recommended surgical techniques, which are always applied individually.

A popular speaker: Participant of many conferences

The inventive methods, that Prof. Ferdinand Köckerling has developed for his patients with his creativity, expert knowledge and boundless will to research make him a sought-after guest at congresses. No wonder that he is in demand as a speaker at numerous symposia. It is therefore only natural that Prof. Köckerling should leave his mark all over the world with many lectures and publications - and that his name is one of the most frequently mentioned in specialist literature on the subject of hernia.

Moreover, Prof. Dr. med. Ferdinand Köckerling meets his patients with a lot of empathy – right from the very first consultation. And since the Spandau hospital is also a teaching hospital of the Charité University Medicine, the passionate specialist is also considered an expert in didactics.