Cooperation with Dr. Ulf Kessler in Lausanne

Visceral surgeon Dr. Ulf Kessler has been at Hirslanden Clinique Cecil as an attending physician for more than a year, and has his practice at CMD Lausanne. With his extensive experience in visceral surgery, he is a competent partner for Swiss1Surgery with Dr. Jörg Zehetner, Professor (USC), in the special field of reflux surgery, as well as surgical intervention with the LINX Reflux Management System.

With the cooperation of Dr. Ulf Kessler and Swiss1Chirurgie, the range of services for the use of the LINX Reflux Management System can now also be offered in Lausanne. In this way, we are extending our radius of action to western Switzerland in the interests of our patients.

In March 2022, the collaboration between Dr. Jörg Zehetner and Dr. Ulf Kessler successfully treated a patient with the LINX Reflux Management System for the first time at the Hirslanden Clinique Cecil in Lausanne. The 45-minute operation was minimally invasive and the patient was discharged from the hospital after two days without any symptoms.

What’s new?

Dr. Zehetner has already performed 350 surgeries with the LINX Reflux Management System in Bern since 2015. This surgery is considered for all patients with typical reflux symptoms, small to moderate diaphragmatic hernia and with normal esophageal function. Now this surgical technique, which has been tried and tested worldwide for ten years, is also available to patients in French-speaking Switzerland.

With Dr. Ulf Kessler, an ideal partner for such interventions was found. Dr. Ulf Kessler was in training for a period of three years to specialize in visceral surgery at the Hirslanden Klinik Beau-Site in Bern, and has already worked with Dr. Jörg Zehetner – as the responsible tutor for Upper GI Surgery and Bariatric Surgery.

During this time, the results of the first 150 operations with the LINX system were also published in Bern. Dr. Kessler’s scientific collaboration was a key factor in the success of the project. In the Hirslanden Center for Digestive Diseases in Lausanne, an ideal partner was found for Western Switzerland, especially since important accompanying specialties such as endoscopy and gastroenterology/hepatology are also on site there.

Interested patients and affected relatives from Western Switzerland can contact Dr. Kessler directly in the future. With his team on site in Lausanne, Dr. Kessler will then perform the assessment and, in collaboration with Swiss1Surgery with Dr. Zehetner, perform any surgical procedures using the LINX Reflux Management System.

Through this collaboration, the good care during the clinic phase and also the follow-up by an experienced specialist can be guaranteed.

The cooperation between Swiss1Surgery and Dr. Ulf Kessler is groundbreaking for this field. This means that the expertise of Dr. Jörg Zehetner, who has the most experience with the LINX system in Switzerland to date, can also be made available to patients in French-speaking Switzerland.

For patients with special questions, the Swiss1Surgery practice in Bern and the GGP Gastroenterology Group Practice with its special functional diagnostics naturally remain a direct and good point of contact.

For further questions we gladly refer to the website www.swiss1chirurgie.ch

Swiss1Chirurgie wishes everyone a Happy New Year

We combine these wishes with a clear request: to rethink our own health and lifestyle. Instead of good resolutions, which usually only survive New Year’s Day, you should perhaps start with concrete steps. How about a visit to the family doctor or specialist? A simple thing with only a few restrictions but great effects. Read the New Year’s greetings from Swiss1Chirurgie here.

A healthy new year often begins with rethinking

First and foremost, we would like to thank all our patients, partners, referring doctors and our many interested parties for their interest in our work. We combine this thanks with best wishes for a peaceful, happy and above all healthy year 2022.

A new year often begins with new good intentions. Quitting smoking, exercising more and losing weight are just a few of the good intentions that many people make. However, we also know from experience that such good resolutions often have a half-life of only a few hours to a few days. Far too quickly we fall back into old habits. It’ll be fine.

It is rewarding to perhaps start the new year with a rethink on many health issues. This can then also be the first best step towards a healthier life. From a medical perspective, at Swiss1Chirurgie we deal with conditions such as obesity, reflux, oesophageal cancer, bariatric surgery, hernias and non-alcoholic fatty liver.

In most cases, we already see in the anamnesis that many clinical pictures and symptoms are very closely related to the lifestyle we have chosen for ourselves. Accordingly, it is also up to each person to tackle certain possible changes in life. More exercise in everyday life and sport in leisure time, healthier eating and drinking, abstaining from nicotine and alcohol are always the first good steps towards a healthier and often longer life.

Many diseases we only notice when it is apparently already too late. This also includes liver diseases, which in many cases are due to an unhealthy diet that is too fatty and too sugary. We do not feel the effects on the liver itself at first. But the interactions on many other organs. Liver health is one of the most important issues in internal medicine. So what’s stopping us from taking more care of our health in the new year? The beginning can be liver fasting, which we have already presented, for example, in the series of lectures Helvetius.events at the specialist conferences of Helvetius Holding AG in 2021. Here you can re-live the lecture.

By rethinking health and taking the first concrete steps, everyone is making a simple but very effective contribution to making 2022 a healthier year. The beneficiaries are not only yourself, but also your family, friends and colleagues.

With this in mind, we wish you all a good year 2022, which should in the best case start with a rethink about your own health.

Martin Andermatt with his experiences on liver fasting

When Martin Andermatt talks about his experiences with liver fasting, the football legend and FC Schaffhausen coach is mainly talking about experiences with himself. The core of his presentations is that something only changes if you change yourself. This is just as true in active sports as it is in maintaining the health of one’s own body. The well-known Swiss also shares this experience at the 4th Helvetius Holding AG symposium at the Talent Campus Bodensee in Kreuzlingen. Read the report here and find out where you can watch the live stream.

A field report on liver fasting with HEPAFAST® by Martin Andermatt

Dr. med. Jörg Zehetner, Professor (USC), and Dr. med. Hardy Walle spoke on the topic of liver health and fatty liver at the 4th specialist conference of Helvetius Holding AG at the Talent Campus Bodensee Kreuzlingen. The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the lecture by Dr. Hardy Walle, MD, who not only used the latest scientific approaches to shed light on non-alcoholic fatty liver from a somewhat different perspective, but was also able to present an effective concept for liver fasting in the form of HEPAFAST®.

In the following, football legend Martin Andermatt reported on his own experiences of liver fasting with HEPAFAST®. As a successful professional footballer and now coach of FC Schaffhausen, Martin Andermatt knows very well how important stable health is and what effects a healthy liver has on the entire organism.

As a football coach, Martin Andermatt likes to talk about his own practical experiences. With his own experience, Martin Andermatt was the first Swiss coach of a German Bundesliga team and also knows the German league business from the perspective of a supervisory board member at the Hannover 96 club.

In line with his own sporting career, also as an active player, Martin Andermatt has always been interested in how a good, balanced and healthy diet can be designed. As he got older, the question of how to continue in life after active football also came into focus. The main interest was in the physical and psychological effects of no longer exercising so intensively and practically losing a previously accustomed amount of exercise.

As a coach, Martin Andermatt also sees his responsibility in conveying information to adolescent and also adult players that is also correct and underpinned. Conjecture, hearsay and supposed knowledge are not really strong arguments. That is why Martin Andermatt knows very well that only one’s own experience is a good basis for passing on knowledge. He also sees this fundamental approach as important when he gives his very own experience report on liver fasting with HEPAFAST® at the 4th Helvetius Holding AG symposium.

Even though Martin Andermatt, as a non-medical doctor, does not know the formulas for liver health, he was able to follow every step in the lectures by Dr. med. Jörg Zehetner, Professor(USC), and Dr. med. Hardy Walle, founder of BODYMED and co-developer of liver fasting with HEPAFAST®. Especially from his own experience.

Personal experience is what really counts

Martin Andermatt also knows from his experience with liver fasting that this is not simply a matter of doing things quickly for a short time. It is always important to look at the development. Martin Andermatt sees this in his sporting commitment as well as in his personal attitude to health. However, even here beautiful and melodious words are always worth less than one’s own experience. And this is exactly how Martin Andermatt reports on his own experience with liver fasting with HEPAFAST®.

His first observation is about the dream world. For example, he reports that he dreamed much more intensely than usual during the periods of liver fasting. In addition, he felt extremely vital and efficient in every phase of the liver fast.

With now already 60 years of life experience, Martin Andermatt still feels very well today and knows that he has already tried a lot of things regarding health maintenance. Be it juice cures or various diet programmes. Martin Andermatt knows what he is talking about when he passes on information to his athletes.

Especially with regard to older people, nutrition is very important. Too little exercise, a lack of good proteins and the loss of muscle mass all impact on health. Overall, the quality of life can suffer a lot, which is an important issue for Martin Andermatt. After all, quality of life is an important issue for all people. Especially when they get older. Then you also need a good measure of discipline if you want to stay physically and mentally fit over a long period of time.

Just thinking that maybe you should lose some weight is not enough to really achieve that. Only then, when one becomes active in the process, will success be achieved. So it’s about real action, which is always crucial for change.

A first step for Martin Andermatt in his encounter with liver fasting was to pick up the HEPAFAST® preparation himself in Bern and not simply have it sent to him. In the Swiss1Chirurgie clinic, he had his measurements taken, so to speak. What really counts are actual and current values. Martin Andermatt already knows this from his sporting career.

Motivation counts

As in many other areas, the right motivation is the best starting point for good results in liver fasting. If one’s own motivation can then be supported in a discussion with a medical specialist, this is a good prerequisite for active action.

What counts then is the real doing. Not tomorrow or perhaps the day after tomorrow, but ideally right away, one should start with what one has recognised as good and right for oneself.

From Martin Andermatt’s point of view, it is sometimes the small vanities that can be an impetus for liver fasting. Who doesn’t want to please their partner even at an older age? Who doesn’t want to be active and fit even as they get older? You also want to be a role model for the children and if you are a coach, it all has something to do with a positive aura on the people you are training. Only if you like yourself can you radiate that positively, says Martin Andermatt.

In addition, of course, there are the thoughts about one’s own health. Even if you have paid absolute attention to a healthy diet and lifestyle for many years, sometimes this changes as you gain experience in life. However, personal health always remains the most important asset. You have to decide what is good and what is right. Those who decide for themselves do not have to let others decide for them. And health should always be a very important factor in these decisions as well.

What advice should you give to active athletes at the end of their career?

In general, active athletes eat a diet very rich in carbohydrates, as they need this energy for their physical exertion. Often, at the end of their career, it can be observed that many athletes quickly gain weight and even tend to become obese. Then it is important to get back to normal life as well. A deeply human factor also plays an important role here. As an athlete, you are suddenly no longer in demand. This can quickly lead to letting oneself go. In every respect. It is then all the more important to recognise one’s own human value. You have to see what you still want to achieve in life and what you can accomplish and with what charisma you want to meet your fellow human beings. The short-lived lucky charms like good food, Coke or a bag of crisps are then not really what you need. The short happiness is a fallacy that in the end only makes people dissatisfied and unhappy.

The recommendation for active athletes at the end of their career

In any case, those who are at the end of their career have to train off slowly. It is not the end from one day to the next that counts, but the gradual change to a normal status. Just as you then gradually say goodbye to high athletic performance, you naturally also have to change your diet. The mental load also changes, which must also be considered.

Martin Andermatt is convinced that what counts now are good conversations, even beyond one’s own horizon of experience. Good medical supervision can be useful. This is not about fear of any diagnosis, but about developing visions for one’s own future. At the same time, it is also important for Martin Andermatt to simply live in a more relaxed and happy way.

As a coach, he follows a very clear philosophy, which he likes to sum up in three words: Laugh, learn, sweat. When he passes this on to his players, Martin Andermatt himself also likes to think about whether he has already laughed, learned and maybe even sweated today. The most beautiful thing is when you can give the players something beyond pure sport that is still of value for life after active sport.

Your own experiences with liver fasting

From his own experience, Martin Andermatt can only associate liver fasting with pleasant perceptions. This includes above all the real feeling of well-being and the new energy he felt for himself.

Especially in times when one wants to recognise oneself anew, liver fasting is an additionally exciting experience. Martin Andermatt has already completed a liver fasting cure with HEPAFAST® three times and is sure that he will do it again and again. If only because of all the positive energy it has given him. He is also happy to recommend liver fasting to others. He stands behind it with all his personality and experience.

Of course, it can be difficult for individuals to face their issues. People often prefer to make fun of themselves instead of tackling important changes. Certainly also because change can be uncomfortable. But those who listen to themselves know that only change brings change. And that is exactly what applies to liver fasting.

The question is not why you fell into the water, but how you get out of it. It’s about making decisions and then following through with them consistently. And if you need support to do that, you have to get that support.

Hardy Walle, MD, at the 4th Helvetius Holding AG symposium

The focus of the 4th Helvetius Holding AG symposium at the Talent Campus Bodensee in Kreuzlingen on 22 October 2021 was the topic of liver health. All speakers agreed that fatty liver is a major cause of many diseases of civilisation in modern society. What could be more natural than to invite the co-founder of liver fasting with HEPAFAST® to the event? In his impressive and scientifically supported lecture, the nutritional physician and internist Dr. med. Hardy Walle not only established the connection between non-alcoholic fatty liver and diabetes, but at the same time proved the previously unattained effectiveness of the BODYMED HEPAFAST® concept for liver fasting. In the detailed report you will learn a lot about the topic and receive further information about liver fasting with HEPAFAST®.

Lecture:

Interview:

Liver Fasting with HEPAFAST® – The Effective Way to Liver Health

A healthy liver has extensive effects on a person’s state of health and has a lasting impact on many functions, especially metabolism. Hardy Walle, MD, was a very special guest at the 4th Helvetius Holding AG symposium at the Talent Campus Bodensee in Kreuzlingen.

Hardy Walle, MD, together with Prof. Nicolai Worm, is known as the founder of liver fasting with HEPAFAST®. The system, specially developed by both nutritional physicians, has been proven to have a positive effect on liver health and offers excellent opportunities for keeping the liver healthy. Even after severe liver diseases, but also used preventively, liver fasting according to Dr. Walle brings about the full functionality of the liver and thus contributes decisively to a healthy lifestyle. In his lecture, the internist and nutritionist and founder of BODYMED AG will present liver fasting with all its effects on liver detoxification and interactions on a healthy life.

Why liver fasting and what is special about it?

The core of the considerations here are the differences of liver fasting compared to other diet programmes. The starting point is provided by data on the development of overweight and the spread of obesity in Germany. It is clear that obesity with a BMI over 25 has spread significantly in the last 20 years or so. This applies especially to obesity with a BMI of 30 and above. In Germany, it is currently assumed that more than half of the total population is overweight. This leads to the logical conclusion that being overweight is now considered the normal thing to be. At the same time, almost a quarter of the population with a BMI of over 30 can be classified as obese. When we talk about obesity, we clearly mean obesity. This also makes it clear that in the case of overweight we are essentially looking at the ratio of fat to total weight. Last but not least, it is also about body fat distribution, i.e. where the fat is located on the body.

It is also interesting to note in the assessment of obesity that with the increase in overweight people, the proportion of people with type 2 diabetes is also increasing at more or less the same rate. It is interesting to note that diabetes mellitus type 2 has nothing to do with people’s age, as was once assumed. People of any age can be affected by type 2 diabetes, with obesity playing a particularly decisive role. Also among young people. So there is a clear correlation between obesity and secondary diseases.

It is all the more astonishing that light overweight is repeatedly communicated as not being so bad and that there are specialist journalists who believe that people “with light to medium overweight live the longest and get the fewest diseases …”. What is often meant is that the connection between BMI and mortality is not so significant.

Accordingly, there is a study in which, for once, not the BMI but the body shape, here specifically the waist circumference, was taken as a yardstick for the assessment among high-risk patients. Surprisingly, in the test group of around 15,000 volunteers, the group that turned out to be more mortal when measured within five years was the one that only had a BMI of 22. However, a closer look revealed that this group showed exactly the same waist circumference as the group of obese volunteers with a BMI 30. The waist circumference was 101 centimetres in each case. However, while the BMI 22 volunteer only had a belly, the BMI 30 volunteer also had a lot of fat distributed over his body.

The volunteers with the highest mortality were quite thin except in the abdominal area and had hardly any muscles. This also explains the relatively low weight despite a 101 abdominal girth. If we know that muscles also have a protective factor, then the increased mortality in this comparison group can also be explained by the lack of a protective function of the muscles. If one follows this thought, then it becomes clear that the ratio of muscle mass to fat mass is of great importance.

Conversely, this also means that BMI alone does not indicate how muscle and fat are distributed. So looking at BMI alone distorts reality, although it can provide initial signals. So it is not the BMI alone that is decisive. It definitely depends on the abdominal girth. Nevertheless, most people may know approximately their weight, but hardly anyone can quantify their abdominal circumference relatively clearly. An increased abdominal girth (women over 88 cm, men over 102 cm) is a clear risk factor for heart attacks, for example. Here, the risk increases by a factor of 4.5.

While there are tablets against high blood pressure, you can only influence your abdominal girth with your own activity. And this is exactly where liver fasting comes in. It is not one-sidedly about weight reduction, but quite clearly about belly reduction. In conclusion, this means getting rid of belly fat. But not only the fat around the organs, but especially the fat in the organs. This refers to the liver, pancreas, kidneys and, more broadly, the heart and bone structure.

Belly fat is the dangerous fat

It must be clear that the liver, for example, is not made to store fat. For that, there is rather the subcutaneous fat tissue. Belly fat has clear potential dangers. These show up as risk factors for

• Diabetes type 2
• High blood pressure
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Potency disorders
• Circulatory disorders
• Dementia

All these can be consequences of too much belly fat. In principle, this is also where bariatric surgery comes in, which can certainly also ensure rapid defatting of the liver with obesity surgery.

A renowned German researcher puts the basic statement in a nutshell: “Without a fatty liver, there is no diabetes”. (Professor Norbert Stefan, Tübingen)

In most cases, it is the fatty liver that is the trigger and cause of many secondary diseases. Knowing this is important, because only then can cause, symptom, effect be clearly determined, which ultimately has clear implications for the right therapy.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) can be considered the cause of many manifestations of pathological processes. For example, for infections caused by free radicals, for gout caused by increased uric acid, increased blood sugar levels, lipid metabolism disorders, high blood pressure or for thrombosis and finally the metabolic syndrome. Liver cancer is not negligible here and is increasing explosively, especially in the USA with the large proportion of obese people.

Generally speaking, 30 to 40 percent of the total population in Germany is affected by a fatty liver. In the overweight group, this proportion is already 70 percent. If we take only type 2 diabetics, around 90 percent of those affected are “equipped” with a fatty liver. From this, the connections between fatty liver, obesity and diabetes become even clearer. This makes non-alcoholic fatty liver one of the most common liver diseases. But even 15 percent of outwardly slim people are affected by a fatty liver.

How can non-alcoholic fatty liver be diagnosed?

Basically, a non-alcoholic fatty liver is a fatty liver that is not caused by alcohol or other causes. In industrialised nations, it is considered the most frequently diagnosed liver disease. Just as no typical complaints can be detected, pure laboratory values alone hardly provide a meaningful basis.

We speak of a non-alcoholic fatty liver when more than 5.5 to 6 percent of the liver cells are fatty. This portion cannot be detected on ultrasound alone. Here, something can only be seen from a fatty degeneration of about 20 percent. The most accurate diagnosis can be made with a liver biopsy, but this is unlikely to be the first step in the diagnosis.

One value has become established in Europe. We are talking about the Fatty Liver Index (FLI). This results in a validated algorithmic numerical value that is also well suited for progress monitoring. With the FLI, a fatty liver can be diagnosed quite well and reliably.

Statistics show that mortality is significantly increased in fatty liver patients. Fatty liver is therefore not a cosmetic problem or characterised solely by increased blood fat levels etc., it is a real high-risk factor in terms of life expectancy and mortality.

Main causes for the development of a fatty liver

In the past, the causes of fatty liver were simply summarised by saying that people eat too much fat. The real cause, however, is an excess of ingested carbohydrates. Another cause may be the intake of a lot of fructose, i.e. fruit sugar. The main fatsifier of the liver is even found here.

Carbohydrates are broken down into sugar in the body. At the same time, the pancreas produces insulin. However, insulin has two effects: On the one hand, insulin ensures that the sugar reaches the muscles, and on the other hand, some of the sugar reaches the liver to regulate the blood sugar level there. If the liver releases too much sugar, insulin slows down this release. In addition, insulin ensures that excess sugar is stored in fat tissue.

Under certain conditions, organs begin to no longer respond adequately to insulin. A kind of insulin resistance develops. Then the liver is also no longer properly regulated by insulin. In the prediabetic course, the blood glucose level then rises even in fasting volunteers. Such a process develops slowly, so that in individual cases diabetes only develops after ten to twelve years. This process can even take up to 20 years. During this time, the liver is less and less regulated by insulin and becomes increasingly fatty. This process is accelerated when the subcutaneous fat tissue cannot form any more fat cells because it is literally flooded with fat. More and more fat and sugar move in the blood. Out of a natural reaction, the organism then builds up additional fat stores in the liver.

In the long term, however, it is not only the liver that becomes fatty, but also the pancreas, the kidneys, the muscles, the heart and even the hypothalamus in the brain.

The basics of liver fasting

The basic idea behind liver fasting is to simply go backwards from the rather unhealthy path taken so far. The most important step is the defatting of the liver. This usually requires a strict diet.

This means:

• less than 1’000 kcal per day
• few carbohydrates
• Absorption of high quality protein
• Only “good” fats if possible
• special liver-active agents and dietary fibres

All this is combined in HEPAFAST® in a well-tolerated and easy-to-use formula. The programme is easy to implement in everyday life. It is easy to digest, fills you up and meets all the requirements of a good liver-healthy diet.

HEPAFAST® is taken three times a day, prepared with a milk product. In addition, twice daily vegetable preparations with a total of maximum 200 kcal per day. This means one HEPAFAST® preparation for breakfast, one HEPAFAST® and one vegetable preparation for lunch and one HEPAFAST® and one vegetable preparation for dinner. No more, but also no less.

Due to this suitability for everyday use, there are hardly any dropouts in the HEPAFAST® liver detoxification programme, which significantly increases the success rate.

The reset for the metabolism causes:

• Normalisation of the function of the pancreas and the insulin sensitivity of the liver
• Promotion of insulin secretion
• Normalisation of glucagon regulation
• reduces the uncontrolled release of glucose from the liver into the blood
• improves metabolism and facilitates weight loss

For whom is liver fasting useful?

In principle, liver fasting with HEPAFAST® is useful for all patients with the following constellation:

• Fatty liver (NAFDL, NASH)
• metabolic syndrome
• Type 2 diabetes
• Overweight and obesity
• Lipometabolic disorders
• High blood pressure
• preventive as a “metabolic cure” for the prevention of diseases
• prior to bariatric surgery

It makes no sense to wait until you have a BMI of 30 or an abdominal circumference of well over 100 centimetres. You can always start a liver fast with HEPAFAST® even without such symptoms.

Further information

You can watch the entire live video stream with Hardy Walle, MD, with additional research results, statistics and a concrete case study here.

In addition, you will also find further contributions from Helvetius Holding AG’s specialist conferences here.

4th Symposium of Helvetius Holding AG at the Talent Campus Bodensee in Kreuzlingen

The 4th Helvetius Holding AG symposium will take place on 22 October 2021 from 18:00. Core topics of the public event are diabetes and obesity as well as liver diseases with the effects on personal health. The subject area will be expanded by interesting lectures on motivation in recreational sports and on liver fasting with Hepafast.

In addition to Dr. med. Jörg Zehetner, nutritional physicians Dr. med. Hardy Walle and Dr. med. Tilmann Schmitz as well as football and coaching legend Martin Andermatt will lead through the exciting topics.

We expect your registration for the free event under Registration Kreuzlingen – Helvetius Holding AG.

More information is available in the article and under Streaming – Live Events Kreuzlingen – Die Helvetius Holding AG.

Symposium of Helvetius Holding AG at the Talent Campus Bodensee Kreuzlingen

An event full of specialist medical and social topics with networking opportunities

With its 4th symposium at the Talent Campus Bodensee in Kreuzlingen, Helvetius Holding AG is heading for the highlight of this year’s lecture series.

With Dr. med. Jörg Zehetner (Professor USC), Dr. med. Hardy Walle (nutritional physician), Martin Andermatt (trainer and football legend) as well as Dr. med. Tilmann Schmitz (nutritional physician), nationally and internationally recognised personalities will be on stage and will speak on focal points of medical research, healthy nutrition, motivation and sport.

The core topics of the medical specialist subjects are

• “Belching, obesity and diabetes – recognising connections” and
• “Fatty liver and obesity – liver fasting with Hepafast”.

In addition, the highly interesting event deals with topics on motivation and healthy lifestyles in everyday life, but also answers questions that arise for every concerned and interested participant.

In addition to specialists from the various fields, well-known and successful entrepreneurs and personalities of public interest also meet here to exchange opinions and network.

This will provide interesting opportunities for participants in the event to expand knowledge, build skills and make valuable contacts.

The 4th Helvetius Holding AG symposium is open to all interested and registered participants free of charge.

Date: 22 October 2021, 6:00 p.m. at the Talent Campus Bodensee in Kreuzlingen.

Please note that participation in the symposium is only possible after prior registration.

You can easily register at Registration Kreuzlingen – Die Helvetius Holding AG.

Please feel free to consider this information as a personal invitation and register to participate in the event. We look forward to meeting you or seeing you again at the 4th Helvetius Holding AG symposium at the Talent Campus Bodensee in Kreuzlingen.

We introduce: Anita Scheiwiller, MD

The new member of the Swiss1Chirurgie team

Always on the lookout for the best surgeons and specialists in the Swiss1Chirurgie service areas, we have found one again. From 01 July 2021, our surgical team will be supported by Anita Scheiwiller, MD. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to our new expert in visceral surgery.

Anita Scheiwiller was born in Zurich in 1971, from where she moved with her family to Bern after only a short time. The mother, two sisters and the father, who was the director of a school, naturally went along.

Anita Scheiwiller finished school by starting a commercial apprenticeship, which she successfully completed. But it soon became clear that an office job would probably not be the right thing for the versatile young woman. During a trip through South America, the decision matured to go back to school and take the Matura. After three years, that was also successfully done and Anita Scheiwiller had long since made the decision to become a doctor.

At the University in Bern, this developmental step was also successfully completed, although it was only towards the end of her studies that it became clear that Anita Scheiwiller would choose the field of surgery. An internship in cardiovascular surgery at the Inselspital Bern turned a decision into something like love at first sight. From then on, it was clear that the newly trained medical doctor would dedicate herself to the field of surgery. What began as “love at first sight” has remained a deep passion to this day.

After her first residency at the regional hospital in Langenthal, she returned to Bern two years later, this time to the Tiefenau City Hospital. During her work there, Anita Scheiwiller became more and more intensively involved in abdominal surgery, thus setting a clear signal for specialisation.

At the University Hospital Zurich, the now quite accomplished surgeon was able to complete her training as a specialist in the Clinic for Visceral Surgery in 2008 and obtain the FMH title for surgery. In the same year she took up her first position as senior physician at the Bürgerspital Solothurn. After only a short time, Anita Scheiwiller followed an offer from Eastern Switzerland and was then engaged for several years in Frauenfeld and Zurich respectively. With the acquisition of extensive surgical experience, the specialist title for visceral surgery and the European specialist title for colorectal surgery and proctology followed.

After 20 years of working in public hospitals, Anita Scheiwiller is now returning to her roots. As an affiliated doctor, she will be a member of the Swiss1Chirurgie team of experts and will be a valuable asset with her work in the Solothurn, Brig and Bern clinics. Her interests in colon and rectal surgery, obesity surgery and thyroid surgery fit perfectly with the profile of Swiss1Chirurgie.

In addition to the new professional challenges, Anita Scheiwiller, MD, is also pleased to be joining the Swiss1Chirurgie team of experts for very personal reasons. For her, returning to Bern and her work in the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics in Bern, Brig and Solothurn is also a return to her home country, where a wonderful natural environment with the mountains and unique natural landscapes offers plenty of space for relaxation, recreation and activity.

Dr. Jörg Zehetner on Anita Scheiwiller

It is a particular pleasure for me to welcome Anita Scheiwiller, MD, to our Swiss1Chirurgie team as of 01 July 2021. With her, we are gaining an expert for a large part of our service areas who has proven herself as a surgeon over many years. For Swiss1Chirurgie, the addition of an experienced surgeon not only means a further expansion of our efficiency in the interests of our patients.

As the first woman in our team of surgeons, Anita Scheiwiller is a real enrichment for our team, both personally and professionally. Our patients in particular will be pleased to be able to turn to an empathetic and extremely qualified specialist colleague with their sometimes very shameful problems.

Moreover, I am sure that we can all benefit from the experience of an outstanding surgeon and thus do an even better job for the benefit of our patients.

Welcome to the team, Dr. med. Anita Scheiwiller!

Swiss1Chirurgie informs patients and endocrinologists

New set of rules for obesity surgery

From 01 January 2021, it will be possible to have obesity surgery from a BMI of 30+ with concomitant type 2 diabetes. One of the prerequisites is that diabetes can no longer be safely controlled by conventional means. Only a few specialist clinics are authorised to perform such operations. This also includes the clinics of Swiss1Chirurgie, which offer such procedures in the Helvetia Holding AG network. Learn more about the BAG’s decision.

Overweight surgery possible from BMI 30 with diabetes as of 2021

Being overweight is not something to be trifled with. All those affected know this just as well as we do as medical specialists. For years, the experts at Swiss1Chirurgie have been observing the development of obesity in modern industrialised countries. It is becoming increasingly clear that the proportion of overweight people is growing. Associated with this are not only the individual restrictions and complaints. Healthy societies quickly become sick societies through an oversupply of food at any time in any place and correspondingly wrong nutritional behaviour, whose lack is above all abundance.

So far, health insurers and medical organisations, together with politicians in Switzerland, have agreed that surgical interventions to reduce weight are only possible for a BMI of 35 or higher and are financed accordingly. It was completely ignored that a BMI of 35 or more is already an enormously high value, which is already associated with numerous secondary diseases and complaints. Such concomitant diseases not only complicate the lives of the patients themselves, but are often also a clear obstacle in the preparation and implementation of necessary obesity surgery.

From 2021 the threshold is BMI 30

In accordance with the interventions of the medical specialists and a close observation of the development, the politicians together with the medical profession have decided to lower the threshold value for bariatric surgery in the context of obesity surgery now to a BMI of 30, provided that the patients are affected by diabetes at the same time.

This long overdue decision will benefit patients who, despite being diagnosed with obesity and the corresponding symptoms, were previously not included in the group of patients for whom obesity surgery was an option.

This means that a wide range of conditions closely related to obesity can be treated much sooner and necessary and desired surgical interventions can also be carried out. This will have a lasting impact on the quality of life of people with a BMI over 30 and diabetes, and ultimately reduce the proportion of severely overweight people, along with the social and economic costs.

Advantages especially for humans

The decisive advantages of this decision now lie above all with those people who, with a BMI of 30 or more and diabetes, are already clearly affected by morbid obesity. Now the suffering of these people can be significantly shortened. This is also because it obviously does not make sense to wait for an enormously high BMI of 35 and more until a surgical intervention for weight reduction is made possible by the regulations.

A major advantage of this decision is that the extent of overweight and the associated concomitant and secondary diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and arthrosis can be significantly reduced. The psychological suffering can also be significantly shortened and patients with a BMI of 30 or more with diabetes may now place themselves in the hands of the experienced specialists in obesity surgery. The Swiss1Chirurgie clinics are among the specialist medical clinics that will be authorised to perform surgical procedures to reduce excess weight from a BMI of 30 with diabetes from 01.01.2021.

Determine your BMI here and find out whether and under what conditions you belong to the circle of possible candidates for obesity surgery.

TO THE BMI CALCULATOR

In addition, we recommend that all severely overweight people contact a Swiss1Chirurgie clinic. By doing so, you will take the first step towards a better, healthier future in 2021 and use the possibilities of modern medicine to improve your life.

Contact Swiss1Chirurgie here.

A threat to humanity

Morbid obesity is increasing rapidly worldwide

Go directly to the self-test: https://ch.run/20sekunden

Life always comes with particular challenges and some of them we like to think of as a threat to our own existence. Epidemics, pandemics, forces of nature, cancer, accidents, other serious illnesses and, last but not least, violence instil a good deal of fear and anxiety in each of us.

Yet there is a modern widespread disease that is much more dangerous and deadly in the long term than anything already listed here. We are talking about morbid overweight, which is also called obesity in different stages in professional circles. Far more people are affected by morbid obesity, including its accompanying symptoms and secondary diseases, than we generally realise. Trend: Rapidly increasing!

Oversupply of food and lack of exercise

Obesity is particularly rampant in the developed industrialised countries, for example in Europe, but also on the American continent. However, more and more regions in Asia are also affected, and obesity does not even stop at the African continent.

An overabundance of constantly available food, wrongly learned eating habits passed on to one’s own children, lack of exercise and a fast food culture that is often far too rich in fat and sugar are certainly partly responsible for obesity.

Know what is happening

But first and foremost, it is the people themselves who fall into the obesity trap due to lack of knowledge, lack of contextual thinking and out of convenience. And they often do so with their eyes open, but without a keen awareness of the consequences of poor nutrition. Liver disease, joint problems, circulatory problems, disorders in fat metabolism, shortness of breath, stroke and psychological impairments due to subsequent stigmatisation are only a sample of a wide range of concomitant and secondary diseases that can ultimately be traced back to morbid obesity. This is accompanied by a significant impairment of the quality of life and sometimes the only way to get a grip on the situation is to have surgery. And even that alone is not the solution to the actual problem, but only a last resort for people who are particularly severely affected by morbid obesity.

Obesity as a widespread disease threatens existence

From the medical view of the overall situation, it can indeed be concluded that in the longer term, humanity’s existence is threatened by the widespread disease of obesity. This may be an unimaginable scenario now, but it gains in threat potential when we consider the development of obesity on a global scale.

It is up to each individual to decide how to influence his or her diet and physical constitution. Provided there is a firm will to do so and the insight that the blessing of always having enough food in the existing abundance may not be a real blessing at all.

Determine your own score

We have presented a quiz at https://ch.run/20sekunden that everyone can use to determine their very own overweight risk score. Valuable conclusions for necessary action can be derived from the results. From the experience of decades of research and practical medical and surgical work with severely overweight people, we know that only timely action can offer a way out of morbid obesity. And often it is the early realisation that a change in lifestyle and eating habits can be the best step towards a healthier and ultimately happier life.

In view of the threat that morbid obesity actually poses, our recommendation is to use the simple quiz to determine one’s personal score with regard to possible medical conditions related to obesity. For many, this can be the first important step towards a more conscious approach to their own lives. And even if life itself always seems to be threatened by serious illnesses, accidents, worldwide pandemics or unavoidable forces of nature, we should never underestimate the dangers to which we voluntarily expose ourselves every day through too much and the wrong diet with a simultaneous lack of exercise.

With our quiz at https://ch.run/20sekunden you can quickly and easily determine your risk score and at the same time receive important information on what you can do now or should do urgently. Because there is nothing more precious than life.

Medical expertise and expert advice on Radio Bern1

People are more interested in their health and use different sources to inform themselves about healthy lifestyles but also about diseases and their symptoms as well as treatment options. Especially widespread diseases such as obesity (morbid overweight) or reflux diseases (for example chronic acid reflux) are moving further into the focus of public interest and thus also opening the doors to media such as radio or television.

Swiss1 Surgery, led by Prof. Jörg Zehetner, has long been committed to professional public relations and welcomes all measures and ways to promote social awareness of such diseases. Jörg Zehetner sees the stigmatisation of affected women and men as a problem that prevents many patients from undergoing appropriate medical examinations. Ultimately, this leads to a vicious circle, which is associated with a long path of suffering and rarely leads to an improvement in the lives of those affected, usually not at all. Old but also new widespread diseases are not only a problem for those affected themselves. The economy and society as a whole are also affected when rising case numbers lead to more incapacity to work, occupational disability, disability to work and, ultimately, rising health insurance costs.

With a lot of commitment, Jörg Zehetner has therefore now spoken out on the radio as part of his efforts to be heard more in public. On 17 August 2020, as part of the podcast series “Medical Knowledge”, the topic of oesophagectomy (resection of the oesophagus) was a focal point on which the specialist physician at the Hirslanden Klinik Beau Site positioned himself. When and why an oesophagectomy may be indicated was explained very clearly by Jörg Zehetner in just two minutes.

The very next day, 18 August 2020, Jörg Zehetner could be heard again on Radio Bern1. This time on the topic of obesity, which is becoming more and more important as a disease in Switzerland and all other highly developed industrialised countries in the world. Here, too, Jörg Zehetner took a clear position on those affected and, with his many years of experience as a visceral surgeon, spoke about the classic methods of treating morbid obesity.

Here too, Jörg Zehetner impresses with his ability to present the essential treatment options in just two minutes.

Listen to the two podcast contributions from Radio Bern1 in full length here:

https://swiftcdn6.global.ssl.fastly.net/projects/5f3e31531d258/index.html?cb=abhioqr529cv93v8xj8x8

It should be noted that these short podcasts cannot replace a comprehensive and thorough diagnosis and counselling. If you think you are confronted with one of these two problems, contact one of the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics. A visit to the website www.swiss1chirurgie.ch can also be helpful. Extensive content on the subject areas is offered here. In addition, all contact details for Prof. Jörg Zehetner and the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics can be found there.

Prof. Dr. Jörg Zehetner supervises the European Mountain Village Championship 2020

Dear patients and interested parties, dear newsletter subscribers,

for the Soccer Bergdorf European Championship 2020 in the Ottmar-Hitzfeld-GsponArena, Prof. Dr. Jörg Zehetner from Swiss1Surgery will provide medical care for the entire tournament. At his side are experienced medical professionals who are constantly dealing with infection events in Switzerland with appropriate preventive care and support, even during the corona pandemic. In addition to the observation and assessment of the situation regarding the corona pandemic, the accident-surgical and surgical departments are also the focus of care during the days from 28 to 30 August 2020.

From June 12th to June 14th 2020 the games of the Small Mountain Village European Championships took place in the Ottmar-Hitzfeld-GsponArena. The games of the upcoming official Bergdorf European Championship 2020 have already been played here on the professional kicker table. And with great national and international interest. Belgium ultimately won the tournament, followed by Germany and Switzerland. Whether this will also be the final result of the true Bergdorf European Football Championship 2020 in Staldenried / Gspon is still up in the stars high above the Valais mountains.

Jörg Zehetner on the Bergdorf EM and the health situation

In total, Prof. Dr. Jörg Zehetner commented on the tournament in the mountains and the health situation at the Small Mountain European Championship. Due to the extremely low and well-controlled infection rate in Switzerland, he has so far seen no obstacles that would call the Bergdorf European Championship 2020 into question at the end of August. Special observation is given by Dr. Jörg Zehetner the Swedes, who have to report significantly higher infection numbers than Switzerland and other European countries because of a different way of dealing with the crisis.

Jörg Zehetner always focuses on the health of active players, referees, helpers and the people from the audience. The doctor is always in discussion with the official offices and authorities as well as with the organizers of the Bergdorf EM 2020 regarding the current situation assessment.

There is no denying the great interest that the doctor is bringing to the extraordinary football tournament. Even the Small Mountain European Championship as a preliminary tournament for the big mountain football meeting demands respect and appreciation, since he also likes to see his own children at the table at home. And of course, the sporting aspect and the charitable commitment are also the focus here.

Before we now read the full text of the interviews with Prof. Dr. Jörg Zehetner summarize, we would like to refer you to the recordings of the interviews on the occasion of the Small Mountain Village European Championship. You can find the links here.

For more information, use the website of the Bergdorf EM 2020 www.bergdorf-em.com or the information directly on the website of Swiss1Chirurgie or in the app m.swiss1chirurgie.ch .

We wish you a pleasant summer time and maybe see you again at the Bergdorf European Championship 2020 from 28th to 30th August 2020 in Staldenried / Gspon in the Valais mountains.

Until then, greet you warmly

Jörg Zehetner and the
Swiss1Surgery team