About the department
More than 400,000 artificial joints are implanted in Germany every year. The EndoCert programme of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Orthopaedic Surgery is designed to ensure high quality standards for such interventions.
In a certified endoprosthetic centre, all measures for the fitting of artificial joints are approved, from the determination of indications at the doctor’s appointment through to rehabilitation, and regular external monitoring of all processes is also carried out. Hip or knee replacements are only performed in the presence of one of the chief surgeons at the Endoprosthesis Centre.
In Germany, the first Endoprosthesis Centres were certified in 2012. The Clinic of Traumatology, Orthopaedics and Hand Surgery has been a certified endoprosthesis centre since 2014 and is thus one of the first medical institutions of this kind in the region. Today, our clinic performs about 300 operations for the insertion of artificial hip and knee joints for osteoarthritis or after fractures, which are performed by our four chief surgeons.

Specialities of the Endoprosthesis Centre
At the University Hospital Solingen, the Endoprosthesis Centre performs high-tech operations to replace damaged knee and hip joints. Only modern German and Swiss materials are used, which are able to replicate the shape of the native joint and fully replicate the structure for a full range of functions and movements.
Endoprosthetic surgeries in our clinic are extremely effective and most often the only option to restore lost functions in such complex diseases as:

• degenerative-dystrophic diseases (all types of osteoarthritis and arthritis)
• osteomyelitis
• aseptic necrosis of the femoral head
• intra-articular fractures
• false joints
• joint dysplasia
• femoral neck fracture

Thanks to the development of modern medical operations at the Solingen Clinic, this type of treatment has become a completely routine operation at our clinic with minimal complications and short hospitalisation and rehabilitation times.

• 1995 – 1996: Military service as a captain of medical service at the Institute of Pharmacology of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1996 – 2001: Internship on the specialty “Surgery” at the University Clinic of Essen
• 2001: Specialist in the field of surgery
• 2002: Senior doctor of the Clinic for Traumatology at the University Clinic of Essen (Professor Nast-Kolb)
• 2004: Obtaining the qualification of a trauma doctor
• 2004: Defense of doctoral thesis in the field of surgery at the Duisburg-Essen University
• 2006: Obtaining the additional qualification of “Special traumatology”
• 2008: Specialist in the field of orthopedics and traumatology
• 2009: Head of the Department at the Clinic for Traumatology and Hand Surgery at the University Hospital in Düsseldorf (Professor J. Windolphe)
• 2009: Appointment of a non-staff professor at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf
• 2009 – 2014: Deputy director of the Clinic for Traumatology and Hand Surgery at the University Clinic in Düsseldorf
• 2010 – 1012: Member of the temporary council of the German Society of Traumatology
• 2009 – 2011: Deputy speaker of the Scientific Council of the German Society for Traumatology (DGU)
• From 2011 to the present: Head of the Department of Emergency Medical Care, Resuscitation and Care for Severely Injured Victims of the German Society of Traumatology (DGU)
• 2012: Additional qualifications of “Hand surgery” and “Surgical resuscitation”.
• 2013: Military surgeon during military operations in Kunduz, Afghanistan (lieutenant colonel of medical service in reserve)
• 2015: Chief doctor of the Clinic for Traumatology, Orthopedics and Hand Surgery of the City Clinical Hospital in Solingen