Center for Digestive Health
Our clinics and facilities
At our IBD Unit, we care for the largest cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Sweden, managing about 10% of people in Sweden who have Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. To ensure the best quality of life possible, we provide the most effective treatments to achieve and maintain remission. Every year, around 600 patients are admitted to our inpatient ward. We also perform about 250 surgical operations for IBD annually, including around 40 pouch surgeries, making us one of the world’s leading centres for IBD reconstructive surgery. We offer comprehensive diagnostics, utilising modern, non-invasive diagnostic methods such as capsule endoscopies (including the panenteric capsule) and intestinal ultrasound. As one of the International Bowel Ultrasound Group’s (IBUS) training centres, we are at the forefront of intestinal ultrasound education and practice.
Our Intestinal Failure Unit is one of two national units specialises in the management of patients with a severely impaired ability to absorb nutrients and fluid, who are dependent on parenteral nutrition support. We offer reconstructive surgery and growth factor therapy, which can help patients reduce their reliance on intravenous nutrition. In selected cases, intestinal lengthening or multivisceral transplantation (in collaboration with Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg) may be available treatment options.
Our Neurogastroenterology Clinic is a quaternary reference centre for patients with gastrointestinal dysmotility conditions. Here, we also provide care for patients with the rarest gastrointestinal disorders, such as mitochondrial diseases or gastrointestinal amyloidosis. Our Gastrolab is one of the largest and most advanced GI physiology labs in the Nordic region, performing around 1300 diagnostic examinations every year using state-of-the-art technology such as high-resolution small-bowel manometry.
We are proud to be designated by the National Board of Health and Welfare as a national reference centre (NHV-enhet) for intestinal failure as well as complex reconstructive surgery for IBD.
Comprehensive care, research and education
We work in multidisciplinary teams, with full integration between gastroenterologists and colorectal surgeons. We share a 20-bed inpatient ward, where we conduct daily joint ward rounds. Moreover, we work closely alongside specialised nurses, dieticians, stoma therapists, psychologists, pharmacologists, our pain team and more. Our outpatient clinics are also multidisciplinary. We run a transition clinic in collaboration with paediatricians to ensure a smooth transition from paediatric to adult care for patients with gastrointestinal conditions. Critical management decisions are discussed at multidisciplinary conferences. This collaboration between experts in different areas gives us an integrated and collected competence around each of our patients.
Karolinska is a university hospital, and we continually conduct research and education alongside patient care. Our research team consists of 5 research nurses and several clinical investigators and principal investigators. We run industry-sponsored as well as academic studies, facilitated by close collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet. We have over 30 ongoing studies across various conditions, many of which are international. Our goal is for every patient we treat to be offered participation in a research study.
We deliver top-class education to the next generation of medical professionals, at all levels. We are proud to have been awarded several prizes, including Best Clinical Supervisor in Sweden. We organise national and international congresses, and have an extensive educational and scientific network, allowing us to access and provide the latest up-to-date scientific expertise.