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Joseph Karam, MD

Joseph Karam.jpg

Dr. Joseph Karam is a native to San Antonio, Texas. He attended Health Careers High School, nurturing an early interest in medicine and the sciences. He completed graduate and medical school at UTMB at Galveston, where he was awarded the Oslerian Medicine Award and accepted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society for his compassionate and altruistic care of patients. His training in the field of general surgery was completed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Karam took a special interest in the meticulous care of ICU patients and trauma surgery. This interest led him to complete his fellowship in trauma surgery and surgical critical care at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He is board certified in general surgery as well as trauma and surgical critical care.

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After completing his training, he moved back home to San Antonio to be with his family and begin private practice as a general surgeon. His areas of special interest are broad, and include the GI system (esophageal, hepatobiliary and colon surgery), the endocrine system (thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal), skin and soft tissue (melanoma, breast, general skin lesions), and hernias (ventral, incisional, hiatal, inguinal and femoral). He is experienced in minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic surgery.

Contact Information

Office: 210-593-5890


Office Fax: 210-504-5001


Main Office Address:

4383 Medical Drive, Suite 126
San Antonio, Tx 78229


Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 8am – 5pm

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Additional Office Address:
134 Menger Springs Road,
Suite 1120

Boerne, TX 78006

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Areas of Care:

  • Thyroid and parathyroid disease

  • Breast malignancies and Breast Masses

  • Skin Malignancies, Melanoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma

  • Esophageal Disease (Gastroesophageal Reflux and Achalasia)

  • Gastric Malignancies

  • Gallbladder disease

  • Colon Pathology (Colon cancer and Diverticulitis)

  • Inguinal hernias

  • Ventral Hernias (Abdominal wall and Umbilical hernias)

Hospitals with operative privileges:

  • Methodist Main Hospital

  • Methodist Stone Oak

  • St. Luke’s Baptist

  • Christus Santa Rosa Medical Center

Memberships and offices held:

  • Chair of Surgery Department at Methodist Main Hospital: 2017 – present

  • Medical Executive Committee at Methodist Main Hospital: 2017 – present

  • Clinical Review Committee and Multidisciplinary Review Board: 2017 – present

  • Society of Surgical Oncology: 2016 – present

General and minimally invasive surgeries:

Irregular course of cystic duct. Benefit of ICG to define safe anatomy

This video was published to demonstrate an efficient docking process for a Robotic Assisted Single Incision Cholecystectomy. Our team has been together for over 2 years and we work efficiently together. The entire docking process can take as little as 3 minutes, as shown here.

Intra-peritoneal Onlay Mesh compared to Robotic Pre-peritoneal mesh placement.

Played at 2x speed. Robotic Assisted Paraesophageal Hernia Repair for a 4cm paraesophageal hernia and symptoms of severe gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Robotic Assisted Component Separation. Creation of bilateral posterior rectus and transversus abdominus myofascial advancement flaps. Placement of large 30x35cm mesh into retromuscular pocket.

Severe acute on chronic cholecystitis. ER presentation. Converted from Robotic SILS chole to Robotic Multiport chole. Performed safe sub-total cholecystectomy without need for conversion to open operation. Patient discharged home in 2 days. Had Normal LFT's

Robotic Assisted Left Adrenalectomy for a Pheochromocytoma. The tumor was 4.3cm in size.

Pre-peritoneal placement of mesh with primary closure of the hernia defect. The robotic approach has many benefits to the patient that are shown in this video.

Dr. Joseph R. Karam - Robotic Assisted Sigmoid colectomy for history of perforated diverticulitis. Medial to lateral dissection of the mesentery. EEA stapled anastomosis.

Bilateral Direct Inguinal hernias. Progrip mesh is used in this video.

Robotic Assisted Single Incision Cholecystectomy with Intra-operative Cholangiogram.

This operation was a sigmoid colectomy for colovesicle fistula. Only the anastomosis is shown here. After the diseased segment of colon was resected, the distal segment of the colon was too long for a stapled anastomosis. A two layered hand-sewn anastomosis was created as one would in an open operation.

Robotic Assisted Right Sided Hemicolectomy for right sided colon cancer. High Ligation of the right colic artery performed by vascular stapler. Iso-peristaltic anastomosis. Use of Isocyanine Green Dye to check perfusion of the anastomotic limbs.

Persistent Gastrocutaneous fistula after PEG tube placement. This approach avoids a midline incision, wound complications, and minimizes post-operative pain.

Self-fixating Progrip Mesh is used in this video. Right Sided Inguinal Hernia Repair.

Dissection of a pre-peritoneal plane with primary closure of the ventral hernia defect and sutured mesh fixation (no tacker used) within pre-peritoneal space. No contact of mesh to intra-abdominal contents.

Robotic Assisted EsophagoCardiomyotomy (Heller Myotomy) and Dor Fundoplication (anterior wrap) for Achalasia.

Colovesicle Fistula secondary to diverticulitis. Robotic Assisted sigmoid colectomy with EEA stapled anastomosis and two layer closure of bladder defect from fistula.

Robotic Assisted Single Incision Cholecystectomy for biliary dyskinesia. Very Simple dissection plane.

No stapler is used. Less expensive than laparoscopic procedure.

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