Asst Lect. Dr Ralf Decking

Diseases of the bone, joints, muscles and tendons are treated by the specialist team of the Senior Consultant, Asst Lect. Dr Ralf Decking, at the Orthopaedics and Accident Surgery Clinic at St. Remigius Hospital. The goal of the Leverkusen specialists’ treatment is to maintain or to restore the functions of the musculoskeletal system as far as possible. First of all, a comprehensive consultation takes place with Asst Lect. Dr Decking and the Team in Leverkusen, always including non-surgical (conservative) therapeutic measures.
Some diseases, which are presented at the St. Remigius Hospital Leverkusen, however, cannot be treated without surgical intervention. The most up to date joint-conserving surgery is performed on the extremities in order to avoid or to delay the provision of a prosthesis for as long as possible. Should an endoprosthesis still then be necessary, however, the technique and the implants used by the endoprosthetics specialists are selected according to the most up to date scientific insights and are discussed in detail with the patient concerned.

Together with joint-conserving surgery, the treatment emphases of Asst Lect. Dr Decking in Leverkusen include foot surgery and rheumatic orthopaedics, as well as endoprosthetics for all joints, including minimally invasive techniques in hip endoprosthetics and knee endoprosthetics. Thanks to the increase in the number of loosened, as well as infected or fractured endoprostheses, prosthetic revision (the replacement of prosthetic joints) is becoming increasingly important. In this field, too, the high level of expertise of the orthopaedics and endoprosthetics team is evident.

Back in October 2012, the Orthopaedics and Accident Surgery Clinic at St. Remigius Hospital was certified as one of the first of only 16 clinics in Germany as a Maximum-care Endoprosthetics Centre; the only one, in fact, in the greater metropolitan Cologne-Dusseldorf area. In November 2013, the outstanding performance and quality of the Centre was confirmed by the Certification Committee in a routine monitoring visit. The title Maximum-care Endoprosthetics Centre is understood to mean a clinic, which specialises in the implantation of endoprostheses and has been certified by endoCert. The Clinic has entered collaborative agreements with surrounding basic-care endoprosthetics centres, in order to treat the most complex cases and revision cases for the associated clinics in the clinic of the specialist in endoprosthetics, as well. Here, minimally invasive techniques are also employed. Depending on the problem to be treated, the specialists in endoprosthetics in Leverkusen have recourse to a navigation system during their procedures. In the field of prosthetics revision, the highly specialised team of specialists can rely on their corresponding experience with special implants and bone augmentation with the aid of an in-house bone bank. Thanks to the sophisticated clinical pathways, all procedures are clearly structured for the patients at the outset and a smooth process is guaranteed. A large intensive care ward is available, which guarantees our patients the appropriate medical intensive care around the clock. This is particularly important for more complex procedures and for patients with concomitant diseases. There is close collaboration with post-treatment rehabilitation.

Nevertheless, in the age of modern endoprosthetics, with its seemingly unlimited possibilities, particular importance is also attached to joint-conserving procedures: Frequently, for young patients above all, it is important that patients are able to use their own joints for as long as possible. The so-called joint-conserving procedures are able to correct congenital or acquired malpositioning in children and adolescents and to avoid complications and pain later on. Even if incipient osteoarthritis is already evident in adults, the generally unilateral depletion can be arrested, e.g. by means of a mechanical axis correction, or further progression of the disease can be reduced. Malposition of the hip joint can be corrected or reduced by orthopaedic procedures until the compensatory mechanism of the joints and the cartilage has been exhausted (“Impingement surgery: Hip arthroscopy, surgical hip luxation”). Using these procedures in painful osteoarthritis, the discomfort can be alleviated or, in a favourable case, even corrected. What is essential, however, is that by utilising these measures, depending on the age of the patient, the provision of a joint prosthesis can be deferred or even prevented. The technique used is individually determined in accordance with detailed examination and consultation.