CHI is offering a series of blog articles on the speakers who will be addressing families attending the Fourth Congenital Hyperinsulinism Family Conference March 17 and 18, 2012, in Philadelphia, PA. In this article, we present Professor Winfried Barthlen.
Dr. Winfried Barthlen is a fifty one year old surgeon living and working in Greifswald, Germany. He is married and has four children age two to nineteen. He specializes in both adult and pediatric surgery. He has been the Chief of Pediatric Surgery in Greifswald since 2008. Griefswald is a small and very historic university town situated in the north of Germany on the Baltic Sea. The University was founded in 1456. Dr. Barthlen had many posts prior to settling in Griefswald including time spent in Munich, Tübingen, Hannover and Berlin at the famous Charité Hospital.
Dr. Barthlen’s interest in congenital hyperinsulinism originated in 2004 at the time the first petscan was introduced. Dr. Barthlen’s interest was spurred on by the former Chief of Surgery at the Charité in Berlin, Professor Mau, a very experienced pancreatic surgeon who shared both his knowledge and techniques. In the next few paragraphs Dr. Barthlen describes his passion for his work and shares a little more about himself. Dr. Barthlen says “HI is my absolute passion and I am addicted to this challenge. Why?”
First:
In some cases a pancreatectomy can transform a family’s life. Prior to surgery there is a seriously ill child with a life- threatening disease. The focus of family life is the disease. There is very little space for anything else. Sometimes there are social and psychological problems between the parents and siblings can feel neglected. In some cases surgery can be a cure. After surgery, the child may be perfectly healthy without any signs of disease. There are no restrictions. Life goes back to normal.
Prior to surgery, life was very regimented. Blood sugar levels were frequently tested. Feeding had to take place every few hours. After the surgery, for some children, there are just normal meals and no need to check blood sugar levels. There is such a feeling of satisfaction and happiness for the surgeon who has been able to achieve such a wonderful outcome for a family. It is addictive. My wife even jokes with me and she says that I am unfaithful to her with “ Sister Pancreas.” And it is true: for the first days after surgery I think so often of this HI child as if I have adopted him or her.
Second:
The intellectual challenge. It is very important in HI that the surgeon is involved in all steps leading up to surgery. He must never be only the handworker who does what the physician tells him. Because only the surgeon gets all information first: the PET-CT image, the 3D image during the operation, and the pathologist’s slides. This is why I am always present during the PET-CT of my patients. In the dynamic phase of image acquisition there is some information that gets lost if I see only the static pictures through the eyes of the nuclear medicine specialist who maybe has never seen a pancreas in real life. And this is why I always visit my pathologist two weeks after surgery and we go through the case slide by slide and discuss the results and our decisions. And it is my great pleasure that as a surgeon I can prevent unnecessary surgical trauma by my minimally invasive laparoscopic approach and that I can reduce the extent of resection individually. I am very conservative and preserve as much of the pancreatic gland as possible.
I have performed 47 pancreatectomies of none of the children have become diabetic.
Third:
The interdisciplinary approach. Success in HI is only possible if many experienced specialists work together. This is why my colleague, Dr. Klaus Mohnike, pediatric endocrinologist, and I work so closely together. We do not operate unless we are in agreement. There are many others involved in the team as well like the highly specialized PET-CT by Prof. Wolfgang Mohnike in Berlin, the pathologist, the anesthesiologist, the intensive care people and many nurses.
In my free time I play the piano and my wife and I love the ballet.
