{"id":1041,"date":"2026-07-08T12:13:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T12:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2026-07-08T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T12:30:00","slug":"italy-at-the-forefront-of-europe-in-surgical-treatment-of-hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/news\/litalia-allapice-delleuropa-nel-trattamento-chirurgico-della-cardiomiopatia-ipertrofica\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy at the forefront of Europe for the surgical treatment of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy"},"content":{"rendered":"

An innovative surgical technique, \u201ccord cutting,\u201d published in JACC \u2013 one of the world's most authoritative cardiology journals \u2013 demonstrates excellent long-term results. A tailor-made approach for a heterogeneous disease in its clinical presentation, anatomy, pathophysiology, and genetics: a concrete step towards precision medicine and surgery.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bergamo, July 7, 2026 - Research on the long-term results of an innovative surgical technique for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, so-called \"<\/em>secondary chordae tendineae cutting<\/em><\/strong>\" combined with myectomy, developed by Dr. Paolo Ferrazzi, Scientific Director of the <\/em>International Heart School Foundation<\/em><\/strong>, and first applied in Bergamo in 2009, has been published in the <\/em>Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC)<\/em><\/strong>, one of the world's most authoritative scientific journals in the field of cardiology. <\/em><\/p>\n

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects one in 500 people. It manifests as a thickening of the heart muscle and abnormalities of the mitral valve, which obstruct the normal outflow of blood from the left ventricle. The consequences can be life-threatening for the patient, causing heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and the resulting risk of stroke. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is one of the most frequent causes of sudden cardiac death in young athletes under exertion, in apparently healthy competitive athletes, often at the height of their sporting activity. In cases with symptomatic obstruction, surgery is often the only effective solution, although medical therapy has recently made good progress in treating the disease in less severe cases.<\/p>\n

The cord-cutting technique, developed by Dr. Paolo Ferrazzi at the Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo<\/strong>, now ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII, and then applied for over ten years at the Policlinico di Monza<\/strong>\u2014now the leading center in Europe for the surgical treatment of this condition\u2014has enabled the performance of more than 1,100 procedures. Data published in JACC now demonstrate that the long-term survival of operated patients is comparable to that of the general population of the same age and sex, and that quality of life significantly improves in over 90% of cases.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Seeing young patients who, before the surgery, could not climb a few steps without breathlessness, return to a normal life is an emotion difficult to describe,\" says Dr. Paolo Ferrazzi. \"This work crowns years of multidisciplinary commitment by cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, and anesthesiologists, including Dr. Paolo Spirito, one of the leading international experts on the disease. The results now represent a scientific point of reference for all patients undergoing this surgery and must also be considered in the development of new therapies, including non-surgical ones.\"<\/p>\n

Of particular note is the technique's international diffusion: thanks to the educational activities of the L. Parenzan \u2013 J.W. Kirklin<\/strong> International Heart School Foundation<\/strong>, dedicated to training young doctors from developing countries, surgeons in Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Siberia, and Kazakhstan have learned and adopted this approach, establishing new specialized centers and reporting favorable results in over 4,000 additional patients. Among the centers of excellence that have adopted the technique are the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery in Kiev<\/strong>, directed by Dr. Vasyl Lazoryshynets<\/strong>, where Dr<\/strong>. Kostantyn Rudenko<\/strong>, the head of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, has recorded more than 1,000 cases, and the Bucharest center<\/strong>, led by Dr. Lucian Dorobantu<\/strong>, with more than 200 procedures. To date, 14 centers worldwide<\/strong> have adopted and published excellent short-term results using this surgical technique, developed in Lombardy. This fact confirms that Lombardy's healthcare system is not only the birthplace of innovation with global impact, but also a benchmark for its international dissemination, the result of constant and patient work in transferring knowledge to the global scientific community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy \u2013 What it is and who it affects<\/h3>\n

How widespread is it<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is present in about 1 in 500 people in the general adult population, making it the most frequent familial genetic heart disease. In its obstructive form, blood flow obstruction is present at rest in about 20-25% of patients, a percentage that rises to over 60% during physical exertion.<\/p>\n

Who it affects<\/strong><\/p>\n

The disease develops slowly and progressively after adolescence, with a prevalence in adults \u2014 particularly between the ages of 30 and 60 \u2014 that can reach 0.5%. Diagnosis often occurs in middle age, when the condition has already consolidated into a chronic and progressive form.<\/p>\n

PAOLO FERRAZZI <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Paolo Ferrazzi is one of Europe's most authoritative cardiac surgeons and has performed over 12,000 surgeries. He is the European surgeon with the highest number of procedures performed on patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy \u2014 over 1,100 myectomies \u2014 and in 1985 he performed the third heart transplant in Italy and in 1991 the first heart-lung transplant, under the direction of Prof. Lucio Parenzan.<\/p>\n

He contributed to the launch and development of new cardiac surgery programs at several Italian centers, including the Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, now ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII, the IFC-CNR in Massa, Hesperia Hospital in Modena, and the Humanitas Gavazzeni Clinic in Bergamo. He directed cardiac surgery and the cardiovascular department at the Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo for 14 years and the Center for Hypertrophic Heart Disease and Valvular Diseases at the Policlinico di Monza for over 10 years. His humanitarian vocation led him to perform open-heart surgeries in developing countries\u2014Belarus, Kenya, Iraq, Uzbekistan\u2014as part of international solidarity programs. As director of the L. Parenzan \u2013 J.W. Kirklin International Heart Foundation School<\/strong>, he trained over 350 students from around the world<\/strong>, contributing to the global dissemination of cardiac surgery skills. For his professional, scientific, and humanitarian achievements, Paolo Ferrazzi was awarded the title of Knight of the Italian Republic<\/strong>. His career remains a key figure in Italian and international cardiac surgery.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Una tecnica chirurgica innovativa, \u201cil taglio delle corde\u201d, pubblicata su JACC – tra le riviste cardiologiche pi\u00f9 autorevoli al mondo – dimostra risultati eccellenti a lungo termine. Un approccio su misura per una malattia eterogenea nella clinica, nell’anatomia, nella fisiopatologia e nella genetica: un passo concreto verso la precision medicine and surgery. Bergamo, 7 luglio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1041"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1046,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions\/1046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihs-bergamo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}