MHH celebrates 50 years of paediatric clinic

Big birthday symposium on 30 August 2024.

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Paediatric and adolescent medicine at the highest level: this has been available at Hannover Medical School (MHH) for half a century. Highly professional medical and nursing teams provide round-the-clock care for children and adolescents from Lower Saxony, Germany and all over the world. These include extremely premature babies, girls and boys with rare diseases or complex organ diseases as well as children before and after transplants or with serious accident injuries. This year, the Centre for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

‘The MHH Paediatric Clinic is a flagship of paediatric and adolescent medicine in Lower Saxony. Young patients find competent help here for all clinical pictures. In particular, its expertise in the field of transplants stands out nationwide.The great commitment of the staff, their in-depth expertise and excellent research make the Children's Hospital a place of hope and healing far beyond the borders of Hanover,’ says Lower Saxony's Science Minister Falko Mohrs.

‘The MHH is proud of its paediatric clinic, which has focused on the most severe and complex cases since its foundation. The various clinics of the Centre for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine have contributed significantly to the development of MHH's clinical and scientific priorities,’ explains MHH President Professor Dr Michael Manns.

To mark its 50th anniversary, the Children's Hospital is holding a symposium on 30 August 2024 to highlight the clinical and scientific highlights of the past years and the current development of the Children's Hospital. Minister Mohrs will also give a welcome address at the start of the event.

Different specialist departments on the one hand, and a unit that covers the entire spectrum of paediatric diseases and offers children and adolescents the best possible care on the other - this was the aim of the founding fathers when they set up the Children's Hospital in the 1970s. The principle has proven itself to this day. ‘We have five different highly specialised clinics under one roof, which together cover the entire spectrum of modern paediatrics and work together excellently,’ says Professor Dr Dieter Haffner, Managing Director of the Centre for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. ‘There are excellent individual departments everywhere, but our interdisciplinary approach is something special.’

Seamless care

Thanks to close interdisciplinary and interprofessional cooperation, children and adolescents with even the most serious illnesses and complex care needs can be optimally treated. Examples of this include diseases that affect several organs or an entire organ system, as well as transplants. Every year, around 56,000 patients are treated at the paediatric clinic, 6,000 of them on the wards, 30,000 in special outpatient clinics and 20,000 in the paediatric emergency department. More than 2,100 young people have been transplanted since 1970.An average of 50 girls and boys per year have received a new kidney, liver, lung or heart. However, there is not only good cooperation within the paediatric clinic, but also with other specialist departments such as human genetics, radiology, laboratory medicine, neurosurgery, neuroradiology and anaesthesiology.The Paediatric Clinic is integrated into all areas of the Centre for Rare Diseases at the MHH.

The clinics in the Centre for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine focus on the following areas:

Paediatric pneumology, allergology and neonatology: this is where children and adolescents with acute and chronic lung diseases, allergies, rheumatism and (auto)immune diseases are treated. It also includes the premature and neonatal ward of the level 1 perinatal centre.

Paediatric kidney, liver and metabolic diseases and neuropaediatrics: This includes all clinical pictures of the kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal tract and digestion, hormone-producing organs, nervous system and metabolism. The treatment of young people following a kidney or liver transplant plays a major role.

Paediatric cardiology and intensive care: The team treats the entire spectrum of cardiological diseases. The team for specialised surgery of congenital heart defects is directly connected.The intensive care unit is the largest paediatric intensive care unit in Germany with 18 fully equipped ventilation places.It is also part of the PIN Paediatric Intensive Care Network, an association of 40 children's hospitals in five federal states to improve the care of critically ill children.

Paediatric haematology and oncology: The department cares for young people with blood disorders.This includes all childhood and adolescent cancers such as leukaemias, lymphomas and solid tumours as well as diseases of the components of the blood and coagulation disorders.Haematopoietic stem cell transplants are offered exclusively in the Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Department at the MHH in Lower Saxony.

Paediatric and adolescent surgery: This is the only university medical department for paediatric surgery in Lower Saxony. Operations are performed on the abdomen, chest, lungs and urogenital tract. These are often very complex operations, for example for congenital malformations or cancer.

Research and promotion of young talent

The paediatric clinic has its own paediatric radiology department.All departments carry out intensive nationally and internationally recognised scientific research and are significantly involved in the development of treatment guidelines.

In addition, they train paediatricians in all areas of paediatrics and adolescent medicine for the state of Lower Saxony and are active in the promotion of young talent as part of several clinician-scientist programmes. ‘The team at the paediatric clinic is positive about the future, which they are tackling together. We are looking forward to the planned new building,’ says Professor Haffner.

Not just medical treatment

When a child is ill, it is usually not just a matter of purely medical treatment. Therefore, in addition to doctors and nursing staff, many other people are involved in caring for children and their families at the paediatric clinic. These include, for example, the nursery school teachers from the ‘play oasis’ as well as specialists from the fields of social work, psychology, nutritional counselling, physiotherapy and sports medicine. The paediatric clinic receives a great deal of social and financial support from various parents' associations. The Clinic Clowns have been bringing laughter for over 20 years, bringing people into contact with each other and spreading cheerfulness in the paediatric clinic.

Text: Tina Götting