Peter Vilmann

Peter Vilmann

Clinical Professor

Member of:

  • Surgery

Professor Peter Vilmann had an early scientific work in the field of digestive endoscopy and especially in endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), which started as an international recognized pioneer on EUS with linear transducers, as well as a variety of EUS-guided diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. He was the first in the world to perform EUS-guided fine needle biopsy (1991) and the inventor of the first needle assembly for EUS-guided aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA).

During the years he had published more than 150 publications accepted in peer/reviewed international medical journals, as well as more than 25 medical books or chapters as an author or co-author. These included various aspects of EUS diagnosis and treatment, including EUS-guided pseudocyst drainage and other rendez-vous procedures for bile duct drainage.

Prof. Vilmann has conducted pioneering work in the field of EUS and endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), including the development of EBUS-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). He also took an active role in the development of enteroscopy techniques, with testing of double balloon, single balloon and spiral enteroscopy. Also, he has introduced a non-anesthesiologist propofol sedation (NAPS) program at Gentofte University Hospital and took an active role in the structured evaluation of competency.
Latest work include developments in natural orifices transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) and minimal invasive endoscopic interventions for obesity and digestive anastomoses (the center is for e.g. part of the Galaxy protocol which will include patients with acute cholecystitis deemed unfit for surgery for EUS-guided transgastric gallbladder drainage).

Based on the work during the years he has been part of various committees, including the Guideline Committee of European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
(ESGE), which finalized several guidelines on EUS-FNA, enteroscopy, NAPS, etc. as well as the International Committee of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).

From 2010, Prof. Vilmann holds a full professorship at Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev, where a new endoscopy department has been build and became operational in September 2012. The endoscopy center is meant to be an Excellence Center of EUS and CLE (Confocal laser endosmicroscopy) in Europe, as it has state-of-the-art equipment, but also the human power needed to achieve a critical mass for a clinical and translational research environment.
Several grants have been assembled leading to the development of a powerful CLE center with two different types of equipment available (both a stand-alone endoscopic CLE scope, but also a probe based system).

Present research interests thus include advanced endoscopy techniques in general, but also further work in the field of EUS and EUS-guided biopsy, diagnostic (including elastography and contrast enhancement) and therapeutic EUS procedures, including EUS-guided and EUS-assisted procedures, double balloon enteroscopy as well as NOTES and CLE. A combination of EUS and CLE comes as a logical consequence of Prof. Vilmann endeavors during the past 20 years.

ID: 917767