Heart Valve Replacement in San Donato Hospital

• Cardiac Surgery
• Interventional Cardiology
• Arrhythmology

Policlinico San Donato was founded in 1969. It is a part of Gruppo Ospedale San Donato, which accepts over 4 million patients every year.

• Top Italian doctors. The best Italian cardiologists and cardiac surgeons work at San Donato. Prof. Lorenzo Menicanti — ex-president of the Italian Society of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery, Prof. Carlo Pappone — the world's leading specialist in arrhythmology with over 130,000 radiofrequency ablation (RFA) performed, are among them.
• The best treatment results in Europe. The success rate of cardiac surgeries in San Donato Clinic is 97%. It is one of the highest results among European medical centers.
• 10 modern operating rooms (OR). All OR have the latest medical technologies for open and endovascular (through a catheter) interventions. The Operating Unit is equipped with telepresence robots connecting a patient and a doctor at any time.

San Donato Heart Surgery Unit is No.1 in Italy because of the amount of operations performed. Since its establishment doctors have been conducting more than 50,000 interventions. Every year 17,000 patients undergo treatment here.

The Center of Cardiac Surgery employs 140 physicians: surgeons, cardiologists, arrhythmologists, anesthesiologists and radiologists.

Medical team of the center has performed:

• 1,800 surgeries for ischemic cardiomyopathy treatment
• 20,000 coronary artery bypass surgeries
• 20,000 heart valve operations.

Operation room, Clinica San Donato Milan

San Donato cardiologists specialize in endovascular operations for the treatment of heart and vessel diseases. Surgeons perform them using a thin and long catheter without skin incisions. The recovery period after such a procedure is much easier compared with open surgeries and lasts only 1-2 days.

Coronary angioplasty

Angioplasty is a procedure to treat narrowed or obstructed arteries of the heart. There are 2 types of angioplasty — balloon surgery and stenting.

Cardiologists perform balloon operation with a small balloon placed in the vessel to increase the amount of blood flowing through the artery. After the procedure doctors put out the balloon.

Stenting is performed with a metal or plastic tube called a stent to increase artery permeability. A stent stays in the vessels for at least 10 years.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)

This is a minimally invasive procedure to replace a heart valve. Usually, doctors carry out a sternotomy (chest opening) to implant a new valve, but TAVI can be done with a small puncture or incision.

Cardiologists insert a catheter with an artificial valve in a vessel. Doctors open the implant like an “umbrella” near the flaps of the old valve and fixate it there. It is an image-guided operation allowing doctors precisely to control the valve movement through the vessels.

According to the San Donato data, the Arrhythmology Department is the best in Europe to treat cardiac arrhythmia.

There are 45 hospital beds and 12 twenty-four-hour ECG monitoring devices with telemedicine in the department. ECG allows to connect patients with their physicians at any time.

3 operating rooms are equipped with modern devices including the latest X-ray systems. They produce less X-ray emission than previous models and are safer for patients.

Doctors specialize in the following procedures:

• radiofrequency catheter ablation
• pacemaker insertion
• defibrillator implantation
• cardiac resynchronization therapy to manage heart failure.

Telepresence robot, I.R.C.C.S. Policlinico San Donato

Inpatients can stay in general or VIP wards. All rooms are equipped with TV, Internet, call buttons.

There is a hotel on the premises of the clinic, the accommodation there is paid additionally.