As much surgery as never before

As much surgery as never before

25/10/2013

Never before have so many surgeries been performed as today. Most of the procedures were performed on the intestine or on the bile ducts. Some also used artificial hip joints.

Joints and inguinal hernias in younger patients
In the 45- to 64-year age group, joint operations and meniscal ops were the most frequently performed. Foot operations in women and inguinal hernia in men followed in the other places. Women up to the age of 44 were most often operated on in relation to childbirth and males were most often corrected for nasal problems. Removal of the tonsils and cutting of the eardrum in otitis media have been the most common causes of pediatric surgery in children. For what reasons there has been a steady increase in operations for years, the statisticians have not examined more closely. In addition to the number of operations, the number of hospital cases has risen in the past year. Although not quite as strong. While the number of operations increased by 3.3 percent compared to 2011, the cases were only 1.6 percent. For the central association of the statutory health insurance companies, the high number of medically unnecessary interventions is related to the oversupply of hospital beds. Only with the aging of the society, the increase can not be explained, said a spokesman for the GKV-Spitzenverbandes in Berlin.

Rising numbers of operations trigger debate
The German hospital society sees it differently. For them, the numbers from Wiesbaden are evidence of the need for hospitals. In August, a parliamentary question from the Left Party in the Bundestag on the ever-increasing numbers of operations had triggered a debate. The still-reigning federal government had stated that the number of operations had risen by more than a quarter between 2005 and 2011. A recent study by the Bertelsmann Stiftung found that the number of knee operations was related, inter alia, to the place of residence of patients. In richer states, more operations were noticeably carried out than in the other. (Fr)

Image: Dieter Schütz