Hackensack University Medical Center Sees Increasing Volume and Complexity in IBD Surgical Cases

Multidisciplinary monthly meetings bring multifaceted expertise to individual case analysis and treatment plan development

Hackensack University Medical Center handles high volumes of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and surgical cases continue to grow in complexity. The center is increasingly chosen as a regional referral destination for patients with IBD, allowing New Jersey patients to receive high-quality care with experienced teams closer to home.

Advances in medications, such as small molecule biologics, have helped more patients stay in remission. Under gastroenterologist care, patients are often trying five or more medications before being referred for surgical consult. Surgical cases tend to present later in the disease course, and many require more complex surgery than was typical in the past.

To address the growing complexity, Hackensack University Medical Center holds monthly multidisciplinary meetings to assess all IBD, colitis and Crohn’s disease surgical candidate cases. Gastroenterologists, pathologists, radiologists and colorectal surgeons review and reach consensus on all complicated cases and design a treatment plan together in this forum. 

This type of collaboration, while growing more common for other diseases, such as cancer, is rare for IBD. National data shows that in general, such collaborative assessment meetings result in changes in treatment course in 30% of cases.

In addition to surgeon depth of experience growing with higher volumes of complex IBD cases, the team is developing greater expertise with radiologic interpretations, specialized nursing care and ostomy care. When patients require a colonoscopy or ileostomy, a nurse from the center’s robust ostomy team sees them before surgery and demonstrates the appliance they’ll receive, and helps with stoma management in and out of the hospital. 

Overall, Hackensack University Medical Center’s colorectal surgery volume is on track to double last year’s volume, which was 200 cases. The center recently hired additional colorectal surgeons, for a total of six high-volume surgeons in practice, with further expansion planned. 

Learn more about Gastroenterology innovation at Hackensack University Medical Center.