Dr. Köstler studied and trained in general surgery. He has worked in many hospitals, which gave him the opportunity to gain a wide range of surgical experience in various settings.

At the canton hospital in Winterthur he was, for example, able to gain extensive knowledge in emergency surgery. As chief doctor in the hospitals Lachen and Limmattal, traumatology was one of his core areas of focus. He led the trauma department in the hospital Limmattal from 2005 to 2011, and implemented numerous contemporary and innovative features (e.g. angle-stable implants, new nail systems, new access paths in hip prosthetics (ventral approach), etc.).

Visceral surgery (surgery of the abdominal organs) has been a focus since the beginning of Dr. Köstler’s professional career. Within visceral surgery, he was highly interested in minimally invasive surgical techniques from the outset. This «keyhole surgery» enables complex visceral surgical operations (abdominal surgery) without imposing a large surgical trauma on the patient.

Alongside traumatology, these laparoscopic, minimally invasive surgeries on the colon, small intestine, stomach, gallbladder, bile ducts, and hernias (for example, inguinal hernia or abdominal hernia) increasingly became his professional focus.

In recent years Dr. Köstler has specialized further and has directed his skills toward bariatric surgery («obesity surgery»). He has been performing bariatric surgery by laparoscopy since 2003, and since then he has performed most of the bariatric surgeries at the hospital Limmattal.

Dr. Köstler has treated approximately 1300 bariatric patients since 2003. Due to his high interest in this field, and the increasing numbers of patients, he is head of the bariatric department at the hospital Limmattal, and the leading specialist. He is also supported by a highly skilled team of different specialists in obesity treatment at the hospital Limmattal.

He performs more than 200 bariatric operations per year at the hospital Limmattal which is recognized by BAG (Federal Office of Public Health) as a reference centre for bariatric surgery.

One of his areas of expertise is complex bariatric surgery. This includes surgery on extremely obese people (BMI > 50) and secondary operations due to chronic abdominal pain or insufficient weight loss after a primary surgery.

Since 2012 he has also been working as consultant physician for bariatric surgery at the University Hospital Basel.

If you are interested in bariatric surgery, please visit the specific page on this website.

Source: Thomas Köstler

Operations on the stomach (bariatric surgery, anti-reflux surgery (heartburn), benign and malignant gastric tumors)

Open and laparoscopic: proximal, distal, and OMEGA-gastric bypass, biliopancreatic diversion, gastric sleeve (stomach stapling), gastric band, bariatric redo-procedures, partial gastrectomy, total gastrectomy, gastric ulcer operations, fundoplication.
1300 operations performed

Operations on the large intestine (on benign and malignant tumors)

Open and laparoscopic appendectomy (removal of appendix).
400 operations performed

Open and laparoscopic: segmental resection, hemi colectomy right or left, sigma resection, total mesorectal rectum resection, rectum amputation, colectomy, several stomas (artificial anus).
600 operations performed

Operations on the small intestine (with benign and malignant tumors, abdominal adhesions, intestinal obstruction)

Open and laparoscopic: segmental resection, bypass surgeries, adhesiolysis.
400 operations performed

Operations on hernias

Open and laparoscopic: inguinal hernias, abdominal hernias, umbilical hernias, and incisional hernias.
750 operations performed

Operations on the gallbladder and bile ducts

Open and laparoscopic: cholecystectomy, biliodigestive anastomoses, choledochotomy.
500 operations performed

Operations on the anus (proctologist interventions)

Hemorrhoids (conventional and Longo method), perianal abscesses, fissures (anal tears), laparoscopic rectal prolapse.
350 operations performed

Operations on the veins (varicose veins)

Crossectomy at the groin and popliteal fossa, stripping of the great (vena saphena magna) and small (vena saphena parva) vein, phlebectomies.
150 operations performed

Operations on the thyroid, trachea (windpipe), lungs and arteries

Hemithyroidectomy, subtotal thyroidectomy, total thyroidectomy, tracheotomy (incision in the windpipe), thoracoscopic sympathectomy in sweaty hands, thoracoscopic decortications in pleural empyema (lung), thoracoscopic pleurectomy and pleurodesis with effusions (water lungs), thoracoscopic wedge resection in pneumothorax (collapsed lungs), embolectomy large arteries (arterial occlusion through clot), vascular anastomoses of large arteries.
170 operations performed

Operations on liver, spleen, pancreas, and kidney

Biopsies of the liver (tissue samples)
100 operations performed

Atypical liver resections, splenectomy (removal of the spleen), necrosectomy pancreatitis (severe infection of the pancreas) pancreas cystjejunostomy (benign cyst of the pancreas), nephrectomy (kidney removal).
22 operations performed

Emergency surgery (traumatology) on children and adults

Operative treatment of fractures of ribs, collarbone, shoulder, upper arm, elbow joint (including prostheses), forearm, wrist, metacarpals, thumbs, fingers, hip (including prostheses), thigh, knee (including arthroscopy), lower leg, ankle, calcaneus, mid-foot, toe, CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome of the hand), tendons and nerve-seams.
1500 operations performed

Other operations

Simple mastectomy (removal of mammary gland in men), simple urological procedures on testicles and spermatic cord (ligature, semi-castration, epididymectomy, hydrocele operations), tonsillectomy (removal of tonsils), amputations (thigh, lower leg, forefoot, toes).
100 operations performed