The Operative Unit of Endocrine and Metabolic Surgery is the National Reference Center for Thyroid Surgery of the Unitary Italian Society of Endocrine Surgery (SIUEC), which is further part of the pan-European registry for endocrine surgery (EUROCRINE®) and is the Center of Excellence of the Italian Society of Surgery Obesity and metabolic diseases (SICOb.)
Endocrine and Metabolic Surgery deals specifically with surgical diseases of the endocrine glands:
the surgical treatment of severe obesity and related pathologies.
The Operating Unit is a unit of the Departmental Center for Endocrine and Obesity Surgery (Director Prof. Rocco Bellantone).
The Operating Unit has 32 inpatient beds, of which 9 are standard hospitalization beds over 7 days, and 23 in a week-surgery regime.
The U.O. has paid particular attention to the introduction and development of minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgical techniques for the treatment of endocrine pathologies of surgical interest (video-assisted thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy, endoscopic / robot-assisted trans-axillary thyroidectomy, laparoscopic adrenalectomy, adrenalectomy posterior retro-peritoneoscopic, robot-assisted adrenalectomy) which guarantee a better postoperative course (less post-operative pain and shorter hospitalization) and an excellent aesthetic result (small scar and / or absence of cervical scar in trans-axillary approaches to thyroid).
At the OU the diagnostic-therapeutic-assistance protocols and guidelines recognized by the main national and international scientific societies (S.I.U.E.C., ESES, AAES, ATA) are applied.
The Operational Unit actively participates in the meetings of the multidisciplinary group for the treatment of thyroid cancer (Thyroid Cancer Team) and for neuroendocrine tumors. The Policlinico Gemelli Foundation, in fact, is a Center of Excellence for Neuroendocrine Tumors and is the only center in Italy certified by the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS).
Likewise, in the field of bariatric and metabolic surgery, the O.U. has paid particular attention to the development and introduction of laparoscopic and robot-assisted minimally invasive approaches, modulated on the characteristics of the patient (anatomical-functional, clinical, nutritional, psychological characteristics). In particular, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, gastric bypass with single anastomosis, sleeve gastrectomy, biliopancreatic diversion, biliopancreatic diversion with single anastomosis duodenal-switch (SADI-S) are performed, both as primary procedures and as surgery revision.
Endocrine and Metabolic Surgery participates in the Clinical Assistance Path (PCA) dedicated to the obese patient of the Agostino Gemelli IRCCS Polyclinic Foundation, consisting of a multidisciplinary team that involves, in addition to the surgeon:
Over 150 standard hospitalizations per month are carried out at the Operative Unit, for a total of over 1.000 operations per year for surgical pathology of the thyroid, including about 450 for oncological surgery (first place in the Regional Oncological Network), about 150 operations per year for surgical pathology of the parathyroid glands, about 60 operations per year for surgical pathology of the adrenal glands and about 500 cases of bariatric and metabolic surgery.
The Endocrine and Metabolic Surgery Unit has a Day Hospital in which the entire diagnostic procedure specific to the pathologies treated (ultrasound, needle aspiration, laboratory tests) can be carried out, thanks to specific complex outpatient packages (PAC) (Thyroid ultrasound PAC, thyroid needle aspiration PAC, neck lymph node aspiration PAC) and the first outpatient check-ups after surgery (dressings, etc.) as a Day Service or Day Hospital. The Operating Unit also has a divisional clinic where specialist endocrine surgery and obesity and metabolic surgery are performed.
