Dear patient,

When you come to us for a surgery or a catheter treatment of the arteries we ask you to consider a couple things so that the procedure will be secure and quick.

On principle: Here we can only describe the process in general. There can be differences for your personal treatment. This description is not supposed to substitute the personal conversation with your doctors.

If your surgery is at the beginning of a quarterly period we need your health-insurance card and the current certificate of referral. You can find more about that under “Your visit to the doctor”. Those who have a private insurance do not need a certificate of referral or a health-insurance card.  

If we arranged that you would hand in your current documents at a later date (laboratory findings, ECG etc.) then bring those with you no later than the date of your surgery. You can take home all documents with you after they have been viewed.

Please strictly adhere to the recommendation of arriving with an empty stomach. Usually it is sufficient to not eat for four hours prior to the procedure. That means that you are potentially able to eat breakfast as usual, so take advantage and come strengthened to your surgery. You may always drink water. In most cases you take your normal medication as usual. But especially here there are important exceptions, for example for diabetics. In particular being on an empty stomach needs to be arranged individually with your doctor.

We are forced to work with generic forms for the surgery. There are directions for shaving and purgation that you can ignore. Should the procedure require shaving we talk to you about that in advance or shave you during your surgery. We request comfortable clothes for the time after the procedure. A pair of slippers would be also useful. The stockings and medical strips that we prescribed are not needed until the bandage is removed three or four days after the surgery.

Please do your best to be on time when you come for surgery. Also please consider that the length of time for procedures is not always predictable. We are not able to interrupt a procedure because the next patient is already waiting. We apologise for any inconveniences in case you have to wait.

When you are here we will offer you a partition in our wake-up-room where you can spend a couple hours. Often we already place an indwelling cannula in the vein when you are in the partition and you get an injection against thrombosis. Usually you do not need any more injections when you are at home. All your belongings can stay in the partition while you are having surgery. We will take you to the partition after you have been observed in the surgery room while waking up from the anaesthesia. There we will offer you coffee, tea or water. There you can eat everything you want. That is why we recommend bringing breakfast with you, or also something to read. We will talk with you about the right point of time for you to get up.

After the procedure we will wrap your leg into a firm bandage. At home you will be able to move as usual, no additional bed rest is required. Everything that is mechanically possible with the bandage is allowed. We recommend putting your legs up when you are sitting for a longer time.

We will dismiss you with an escort approximately four hours after the surgery. Naturally your escort can come earlier or stay with you the whole time. If you have any questions or concerns when you are at home please call first the number you will find on your note for appointments where you can also find appointments for the after-care.

Thank you for your cooperation!