Competence Center of Rare Gastrointestinal and Hepatopancreatobiliary Diseases

• Complex specialised diagnostics, including pathohistological, molecular, genomic diagnostics;
• Complex specialised treatment, including surgery, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, chemotherapy;
• Routine multidisciplinary meetings of surgeons, radiologists, chemotherapists, radiotherapists, pathologists, gynecologists, endoscopists, gastroenterologists and other specialists to discuss difficult cases.;
• Complex, multivisceral surgery, hybrid surgery;
• Expert consultations of other VUH SK and NCI specialists and other healthcare institutions;
• Ensuring continuity of healthcare round-the-clock in urgent cases;
• Transferring of patients with complex pathology from other healthcare institutions;
• Organization of cross-border healthcare services;
• Establishment of patient monitoring systems to provide coordinated healthcare and collect data for epidemiological and clinical research;
• Preparation and implementation of clinical practice guidelines, management protocols and other quality management system documents;
• Teaching and research activities
• Cooperation with patient organizations
• Dissemination of information about rare diseases

VUH SK and NCI (in cooperation with Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine and other research institutions in Lithuania and abroad) perform various teaching activities including undergraduate and postgraduate residency and doctoral studies of all levels, internships and teaching programs for physicians and nurses and a wide variety of scientific research. Members of the Joint Competence Center are also members of many national and international professional organizations. The results of scientific activities are regularly presented in national and international conferences and scientific publications. All specialists of the Competence center are regularly improving their skills in healthcare and research institutions abroad.

Specialists working in the Competence Center of Rare Gastrointestinal and Hepatopancreatobiliary Diseases diagnose rare diseases of gastrointestinal tract, consult patients, organize multidisciplinary team meetings, perform complex surgical procedures. Patients are also registered to a monitoring system (there are currently over 200 patients registered).

The Competence Center of Rare Gastrointestinal and Hepatopancreatobiliary Diseases has applied to become a member of ERN EURACAN. It is a European Reference Network, uniting specialists, who treat patients with rare cancers. After becoming members of the network we will be able to improve patient care by sharing knowledge and experience with specialists from Europe and being able to discuss difficult situations on a consultations platform. More information about ERN EURACAN: https://euracan.ern-net.eu/

Center specialists are regularly participating in international conferences, they renew their knowledge and present results of local and international research. Down below in a PDF document, we provide a list of our staff publications, related to rare diseases since 2015.