Francesco Maisano

Professor Francesco Maisano is the head of the Cardiac Surgery Unit and director of the Heart Valve Center at the IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele in Milan and full professor of Cardiac Surgery at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan.

His academic journey began with a degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1990 at the Università Cattolica di Roma, followed by a specialization in Cardiac Surgery in 1995 at the Università La Sapienza di Roma. During his training, he completed a period abroad as a Special Postgraduate Fellow at the University of Alabama Birmingham (Alabama, USA).

From a clinical and research perspective, Dr. Maisano is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, with a specific focus on valve diseases and heart failure. He is, in fact, one of the world’s leading experts in mitral repair and in mitral and tricuspid diseases.

His attention is particularly focused on innovative interventions, both strictly surgical and transcatheter.

The diseases and interventions he specializes in include:

• heart valve diseases
• ischemic heart disease
• heart failure
• congenital diseases in adults
• aortic diseases
• obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Dr. Maisano is specialized in the following procedures:

• percutaneous and surgical aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis and insufficiency (TAVI and minimally invasive aortic valve surgery)
• percutaneous mitral valve repair and replacement (MitraClip, Cardioband, Tendyne, Cardiovalve, etc.)
• 3D video-assisted mitral repair through mini-thoracotomy
• surgical and percutaneous treatment of tricuspid valve disease (minimally invasive tricuspid surgery, Triclip, Cardiovalve, etc.)
• surgical and percutaneous correction of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
• beating heart total arterial myocardial revascularization
• heart failure surgery (VAD, ischemic mitral, left ventricular remodeling, etc.)
• correction of heart defects in adults

Dr. Maisano is a member of several scientific societies:

• Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)
• Swiss Society of Cardiac Surgery (SGHC), member of the Board
• European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgery (EACTS)
• European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI)
• PCR Companion
• International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (ISMICS)
• National Association of Physician Cardiologists (ANMCO)
• Italian Society of Cardiovascular Echography (SIEC)
• Cardiothoracic Surgery Network (CTSnet)
• Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery (SICCH)
• European Valve Repair Group (EVRG)

He has also received several awards and recognitions, including the European Society of Cardiology Silver Medal for Innovation and the Lifetime Achievement in Research and Teaching in the Field of Interventional Cardiology (Israelian Cardiology Innovation), both achieved in 2018.

He holds more than 25 patents in the field of cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology, on which some implantable devices for the treatment of valve diseases and other conditions are based.

He is a reviewer for the major scientific journals in the field and author of over 550 publications, with an H-index of 68 (the updated list of publications is available here). Since 2009, he has participated as an invited speaker in all international cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology conferences (ESC, EACTS, EuroPCR, PCR London Valves, AATS, ACC, AHA, TCT, CRT), during which he has delivered more than 150 keynote lectures. He is co-director of the PCR London Valves course, the most important valve intervention conference in the world.