Professor (USC) Joerg Zehetner

Dr Joerg Zehetner is a highly qualified specialist surgeon and a long-standing professor at the University of Southern California (USC). His emphases are reflux treatment, gastric and oesophageal conditions (e.g. carcinomata) and bariatric and abdominal surgery. Dr Zehetner’s service portfolio also includes the surgical treatment of complex hiatus and abdominal wall hernias. Further information can also be found here: www.zfbc.ch. He completed his medical training in Switzerland, Austria and Spain; subsequently, he undertook an eight-year research and teaching residence in the USA. Dr Zehetner has been awarded several accolades for his outstanding teaching activity. He is also an honorary member of the Society of Graduate Surgeons. Since 2015, Dr Zehetner, together with Asst Lect. Dr Rudolf Steffen, has been active in his own abdominal surgical practice in Berne and as a visiting physician at the prestigious Hirslanden Beau Site Private Hospital, also in Berne. Dr Zehetner has long-standing expertise in laparoscopy, i.e. in keyhole surgery, and, in addition, also uses the most up-to-date techniques such as robot-assisted surgery. One particular focus of Dr Zehetner is the treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Here, the oesophageal sphincter muscle above the stomach is too weak to seal the stomach reliably. As a result, acids and bile from the stomach can frequently find their way into the oesophagus. The result is continuous heartburn but, in the long term, serious consequences also occur, such as inflammation, chronic bronchitis and even oesophageal cancer. Dr Zehetner utilises a very gentle minimally invasive method for the treatment of GERD, the so-called LINX™ Reflux Management System. In the course of the procedure, he reinforces the sphincter muscle with a flexible ring made from titanium beads with magnetic cores. By means of the magnetic attraction, the ring squeezes the sphincter muscle together again. It supports the muscle and seals the stomach but, at the same time, is sufficiently penetrable to allow food to pass through without a problem. Following the LINX™ procedure by Dr Zehetner, patients are quickly ready again for everyday life – and the reflux discomfort no longer occurs.