Thanks to the fundamental ability to establish a strong synergy between different and complementary professionals – cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, cardiac anaesthetists – Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino can now offer its patients increasingly less invasive surgical procedures, as well as the most advanced cardiac catheterization procedures. Moreover, technological innovation makes it possible to treat heart failure – a growing concern in all of the most developed countries – through the implantation of cardiac support and resynchronisation devices that are becoming increasingly safe and efficient: Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino is internationally recognised for its contribution in their development.

The option of treating cardiac pathologies using the endovascular route – that is to say, with no need for surgery, by accessing the heart through a catheter inserted in a blood vessel – is currently gaining ground, and is being applied not just to coronary pathologies. Certainly, reopening occluded coronary arteries through dilation (with a balloon) and, in many cases, the introduction of a last-generation prosthesis (called a ‘stent’) is the most frequent type of surgery – yet, more and more often, valvular heart diseases are also treated using these techniques, especially when dealing with patients highly at risk for cardiac surgery. In this particular domain, Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino was the first Swiss institute to “test” the technique of mitral valve reconstruction through the MitraClip system, as well as one of the first to perform percutaneous aortic valve implantation.