University of Athens Clinicians Perform Pioneering Heart Procedure at Sotiria Hospital

Clinicians at the University of Athens have performed Greece’s first successful TAVI-in-TAVI procedure to address the degeneration of a 31 mm self-expanding CoreValve aortic bioprosthesis implanted 15 years earlier.

Given the high risk of coronary obstruction, the team deployed the BASILICA technique, enabling the safe implantation of a 24.5 mm Myval valve.

The patient, a 53-year-old man with a complex medical history, had previously undergone two thoracic surgeries and extensive radiotherapy for thymoma. His comorbidities included familial hypercholesterolaemia and established coronary artery disease. Seventeen years earlier, having been deemed unsuitable for surgery, he underwent angioplasty of the left main and left anterior descending arteries at another centre. More recently, following an acute myocardial infarction three months ago, he required repeat intervention on the left anterior descending artery.

He subsequently developed recurrent episodes of pulmonary oedema, with surgical management no longer considered viable. A transcatheter strategy—combining BASILICA with a TAVI-in-TAVI approach—was therefore pursued, resulting in an excellent clinical outcome.

The intervention was carried out in the Haemodynamic Laboratory of the 3^rd Department of Cardiology at Sotiria Hospital by a multidisciplinary team led by Professor of Cardiology Gerasimos Siasos, Rector of the University of Athens. The team brought together specialists in interventional cardiology, namely Emmanouil Vavouranakis, Emeritus Professor of Cardiology; Konstantinos Kalogeras, Assistant Professor of Cardiology; Anastasios Marathonitis, Cardiologist and Research Fellow; Ourania Katsarou, Consultant Cardiologist; and Carmen Moldovan, Assistant Cardiologist, supported by the laboratory’s staff under the supervision of Vaios Tzortziotis.

Commenting on the development, Professor Siasos stated that the University of Athens Medical School is consistently ranked among the world’s top 100 institutions and continues to deliver advanced clinical innovations within the Greek National Health System. He added that procedures once confined to major international centres are now being performed routinely and successfully in Greece.