Professor Prof Olaf Wendler

I have been a Consultant in cardiothoracic surgery for more than 20 years and performed more than 5000 open cardiac operations. Since 2018 I am Chair of the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic London. Our outpatient facilities open in September 2021. Together with my colleagues we will start a new era of cardiovascular and thoracic private care on London. When I started my career in the UK in 2004, I became Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at King’s College Hospital. We established a modern type of cardiovascular service with a particular focus on arterial revascularisation and heart valve surgery. I became Clinical Director of the cardiothoracic department in 2006. One of my areas of specialism is complete arterial bypass surgery and I have further developed a technique of “T-graft” revascularisation using only two skeletonized conduits, mostly the left internal mammary artery and one radial artery. I have a particular interest in heart valve surgery with a focus on preservation of native heart valves. In patients with mitral valve regurgitation due to degenerative and endocarditic disease I achieve repair rates of around 95%. In patients with aortic regurgitation and aortic root dilatation I replace the aortic root and preserve the native aortic valve in a “David’s” type of surgery in those with anatomically intact valves. I am also specialised in aortic root replacements using stentless bioprostheses in elderly patients and those with complicated aortic valve endocarditis and aortic root pathology. I perform all kinds of surgery on the thoracic aorta and in this context I cooperate regularly with my vascular surgical colleagues at King’s. In this cooperation, I perform aortic arch replacements using the “Elephant-Trunk” technique in patients with mega-aortic-syndrome, as the first stage treatment to facilitate endovascular treatment of the thoraco-abdominal aorta. In my role as Lead for Cardiothoracic Surgery and as Clinical Director I established the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) Program at King’s which started with the first transapical aortic valve implantation in the UK in July 2007. Since then, we have developed the largest programme of this type in the UK at King’s Health Partners. We have participated in all European multicentre trials on this treatment and King’s now has an international reputation for this new type of interventional/surgical approach.

Heart Valve Surgery; Mitral Valve Repair; Aortic Valve Repair; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation; Transcatheter Mitral Valve Implantation; Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair; Aortic Root Replacement; Aortic Root Repair; Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease; Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Surgery; Carcinoid Heart Valve Disease; Coronary Artery Disease; Arterial Coronary Bypass Surgery; Cardiac Arrhythmia Surgery; Minimal Invasive Surgery; You can find Prof Wendler's publications on: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed Search for "Wendler O".