The Cottbus Heart Centre is one of the most renowned clinics in Germany. And it does so with astonishing continuity. In this year's ranking of the best hospitals in Germany by the F.A.Z. Institute, the Cottbus Heart Centre was named one of the best in Germany for the fifth time in a row. Cardiac surgery came first in Brandenburg, while the Heart Centre was voted the second best hospital in the 50 to under 150 bed category.
Die Gründe für dieses erneut sehr gute Abschneiden sind vielfältig: In Cottbus vereinen sich traditionell bewährte Behandlungsmethoden mit innovativen Verfahren. Immer wieder schaut die Herzmedizin gebannt nach Cottbus, wenn hier moderne Behandlungsmethoden Premiere haben. 2006 wurde eine neuartige Herz-Lungen-Maschine bundesweit erstmals in Cottbus eingesetzt. 2001 konnte einem jungen Patienten der erste MRT-fähige Herzschrittmacher implantiert werden. 2017 implantierte das TAVI-Team erstmals die weltweit größte Aortenklappe per Katheter. Zur Behandlung von Vorhofflimmern wird am Haus seit einigen Jahren ein innovatives Ablationsverfahren eingesetzt. Diese regelmäßigen Spitzenleistungen sind insbesondere der interdisziplinären und multiprofessionellen Zusammenarbeit innerhalb und zwischen den Teams zu verdanken.
High recommendation from patients
Word of the clinic's excellent reputation has spread so far that the catchment area now extends far beyond Cottbus and Lusatia. Those seemingly hopeless cases that other clinics consider to be beyond treatment come from Hamburg and Bavaria. At the Sana Heart Centre Cottbus, they receive comprehensive medical treatment, which is almost always accompanied by a significant improvement in their quality of life. From admission to the discharge interview, they are well looked after by the entire team. This is regularly reflected in high recommendation rates and very good ratings on online portals. For example, the Cottbus Heart Centre is one of the few hospitals to receive the best possible rating in all categories on the established portal klinikbewertungen.de. Only a handful of other clinics in all of Germany achieve this.
Competence center with international appeal
Medical competence and expertise are no less important. In the assessment by the F.A.Z. Institute mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is given just as much weight as nursing care. In addition to the number of doctors and specialists, the decisive criterion is their specialist training. And this is extremely high at the Cottbus Heart Centre. The doctors regularly pass on their knowledge to colleagues from other centers. Each of the four head physicians is authorized to provide further training. This means that in addition to their daily work, they are also involved in training the specialists of tomorrow. In addition, several doctors at the hospital pass on their knowledge of specific procedures and treatment methods as proctors. This is a kind of mentor in the medical field. Doctors even come to Cottbus from Asia to be trained in TAVI. In this minimally invasive procedure, an artificial aortic valve is implanted in the heart via the inguinal artery. With well over 4,500 procedures, the Cottbus TAVI team is one of the best in the world.
Continuous investment at the site
To ensure that this remains the case, the doctors will continue to keep up to date with the latest medical treatment and examination methods. In addition, there is ongoing investment at the site to secure and expand medical performance. People are getting older and older, and medical progress is enabling treatments even at an advanced age, meaning that the number of patients will continue to rise. After the patient stay was recently improved with an extensive renovation, the next investment is already in the pipeline, according to Managing Director Marc Bernstädt in an interview with Lausitz Magazin: ‘Plans are currently underway for another EP laboratory, in which we can set up additional services for ablations and electrophysiological examinations (EPU). This will enable us to treat even more patients with atrial fibrillation. We already have long waiting lists and assume that the need for treatment will continue to increase.’
Together with Markus Lehnigk, Bernstädt took over the management of the hospital at the beginning of the year - and also the management of Sana Kliniken Niederlausitz. He wants the hospitals to work closely together in future: ‘Together, we want to further develop both hospitals in Sana's large network of expertise in the long term and expand their role as one of the most important care providers and saviors of hearts in Lusatia.’ In any case, they don't want to rest on their laurels - quite the opposite: ‘We want to get a little better every day.’ It looks as if Germany will continue to look forward to Cottbus in the future.
„Wir haben über die Jahre immer wieder innovative Verfahren der Herzmedizin nach Cottbus geholt und hier etabliert. Das macht unser Haus attraktiv für die Facharztausbildung.“
Dr. Axel Harnath, Chefarzt der Kardiologie
Dieser Beitrag erschien zuerst im Lausitz Magazin, Ausgabe Frühjahr 2023 und wurde redaktionell angepasst und aktualisiert.