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Digestive surgery
Our role
Digestive surgery is concerned with all the organs of the digestive system: the digestive tract (from the oesophagus to the anus), as well as the pancreas, spleen, liver, bladder and bile ducts, peritoneum and adrenal glands. Straddling the Erasmus Hospital and the Jules Bordet Institute, our department is concerned with cancers as well as other pathologies affecting these different organs. We work closely with our colleagues from gastroenterology, digestive oncology, medical imaging, etc.
Our specialities
The Interhospital Digestive Oncology Department spans 4 main entities within which experienced surgeons practice:
- The Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary and Liver Transplant Clinic covers surgery of the liver, pancreas (for which we are the reference, approved by the INAMI), bile ducts and liver transplants.
- The Oesophageal, Gastric Wall and Bariatric Surgery Clinic covers:
- surgery of the oesophagus (for which we are the reference centre, approved by the INAMI),
- stomach surgery (gastric cancers, gastro-oesophageal reflux, etc.)
- gastric wall surgery (hernia, eventration, diastasis, etc.)
- obesity surgery (sleeve, bypass, etc.).
- The Colorectal, Peritoneal and Proctology Surgery Clinic covers surgery for cancerous (colorectal cancer) or benign pathologies of the colon (Crohn's disease, ulcero haemorrhagic rectocolitis, etc.), the rectum, the peritoneum (peritoneal carcinomatosis) and the anus (prolapse, haemorrhoids, etc.).
- The Kidney Transplantation and Removal Functional Unit is concerned with organ removal and kidney transplants.
Our team
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Our specialists
Dr.
Gabriele
Liberale
Pr.
Jean
Closset
Dr.
Nikolaos
Koliakos
Dr.
Pierre
Lingier
Dr.
Valerio
Lucidi
Dr.
Julie
Navez
Focus
The Digestive Surgery Department has developed expertise in treating metastases of the peritoneum. The surgery can be combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPIC). This procedure involves administering to the peritoneum a "bath" of anti-cancer drugs that are heated during 30 to 90 minutes. The aim is to destroy residual cancer cells after removing the metastases.
Research
In translational research, the Interhospital Digestive Surgery Department cooperates with several academic laboratories on the prognostic role of the growth profile (HGP) of certain tumours.
In clinical research, the department cooperates with the Nuclear Medicine Department in relation to FAPI-PET in particular. FAPIs are molecules that attach themselves to the fibroblasts associated with the tumours and that seems promising in increasing detection of tumour cells.