As Medical Director of the Orthopedic University Hospital Heidelberg, University Professor Tobias Renkawitz is one of the leading specialists in orthopedics and orthopedic surgery. His minimally invasive and computer-assisted surgical procedures for hip and knee replacements are considered groundbreaking and are now used nationally and internationally. In the beautiful city on the Neckar, patients benefit from the expertise of this top physician. Professor Renkawitz's vast experience also pays off impressively in complex replacement surgeries on the knee and hip joint: Innovation and precision medicine at university level.
Anyone who receives an artificial hip or knee joint today can consider themselves lucky: In recent years alone, endoprosthetics has developed rapidly. Today's implants for these two joints, which are so important for our mobility, offer great comfort and allow a freedom of movement that was long considered unattainable. It has long since ceased to be just a matter of being able to walk without pain. On the contrary: today, many people only discover the joy of movement with a prosthesis - and become more ambitious when it comes to sports.
Responsible for this positive development are those high-performance physicians who are not satisfied with the circumstances - but ensure through their enormous specialization that artificial joints are optimized further and further. It is top experts like Professor Tobias Renkawitz who have dedicated themselves with commitment and passion to the goal of setting new standards in the field of joint replacement - and in the process also improving orthopedic surgical procedures and recovery processes, of course also for partial replacements.
Internationally renowned: Pioneer in endoprosthetics
Professor Renkawitz completed his training at the University Hospital Regensburg and at the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen, and a research stay at the renowned Yale University followed. Early on, he became enthusiastic about the idea that people with individual artificial joints can live almost without restrictions - and that new surgical methods were needed instead of the large incisions that were common in the past, especially when inserting artificial joints. More than a decade ago, he and his team developed a completely new surgical procedure for artificial hip replacement in which no muscles are cut, blood loss is reduced to a minimum, and special pain therapy during the surgery enables immediate postoperative full weight-bearing. However, according to the top physician, the access route is only part of the success of the surgery. Artificial knee and hip joints must be inserted very precisely to ensure freedom from pain, the best possible mobility and long durability after the surgery. For this reason, Professor Renkawitz developed computer-assisted and digitized surgical methods with which he can insert artificial joints extremely precisely and in accordance with the individual anatomy of his patients. For over 15 years, he has now perfected this unique combination of minimally invasive and patient-specific surgical techniques, making him not only a pioneer but also one of the most experienced orthopedic surgeons in this field - with a worldwide reputation.
However, his motivation for these innovations has remained the same over the past 15 years: To provide patients with immediate freedom from pain, more mobility and a new quality of life after the insertion of an artificial knee and hip joint. Affected people "benefit from a combination of muscle-preserving surgery and individual reconstruction of the joint biomechanics," he said in an interview. The success and benefits of this surgical method have been proven by several research groups in high-level scientific studies.
Early specialization: Optimized surgical methods
As early as 2008, Professor Renkawitz established the research group " Individualized Endoprosthetics for Patients" at the University Hospital Regensburg, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In 2014, he received the "Medicine Oscar" from the Oskar Helene Heim Foundation, one of the most highly endowed prizes for physicians in Germany, for his groundbreaking research on "improving quality and patient safety in elective knee and hip joint replacement." Both European and national orthopedic societies honored Professor Renkawitz with several high-ranking awards and fellowships, which brought him to university centers of excellence in Scandinavia, England, the USA and Canada. Numerous other high-ranking honors and an enormous scientific œuvre attest to the importance that this proven specialist has in national and international endoprosthetics.
It is therefore no wonder that Professor Renkawitz received a call ("primo loco") to the Chair of Orthopedics at the University Hospital of the Ruhr University in Bochum at the age of 39. Five years later, he received a call from Germany's oldest university of excellence, the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg. Here, in 2020, Professor Renkawitz took over the chair of orthopedic surgery and the management of Germany's largest university clinic for orthopedics, which has a history of more than one hundred years. Heidelberg as a location has further advantages: The Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region is considered an important urban center - and with Frankfurt, an important major airport can be reached quickly. This is important for the patients who now come to Heidelberg from all over the world to benefit from the expertise of the Medical Director and Board Member of the Center for Orthopedics, Trauma Surgery and Paraplegiology.
With the Maximum Care Endoprosthetics Center (EPZMax) at the Heidelberg University Orthopedic Hospital in the Center for Orthopedics, Trauma Surgery and Paraplegiology, the Heidelberg University Hospital has an absolute top address for all people with knee, shoulder and hip problems. Maximum care means that, under the direction of Professor Renkawitz, all aspects are fulfilled in Heidelberg to guarantee optimal care during initial or even replacement surgery - from the high number of cases of over a thousand joint replacement surgeries per year to surgical precision and comprehensive intensive medical care at the highest university level.
Minimally invasive, customized and computer-assisted surgical techniques in endoprosthetics, with maximum protection of muscles and tissue, a wealth of experience in sled prostheses, innovative solutions for deformities and complex replacement surgeries, enormous specialist knowledge even in difficult cases - with Professor Tobias Renkawitz, a new era of high-performance medicine has begun in Heidelberg. This is also evidenced by the pioneering use of digital technologies.