At the Heart of Innovation: The Present and Future of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in Greece

The titled event was successfully completed “At the Heart of Innovation: The Present and Future of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in Greece”which took place on Wednesday, October 23at the Athens Concert Hall, from the HYGEIA and MITERA hospitals, members of the Hellenic Healthcare Group (HHG).

The event was attended by the Minister of Health Mr. Adonis Georgiadis as a representative of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Minister of Health Ms. Irini Agapidakisthe Deputy Minister of Health Mr. Marios Themistocleousthe Head of GEETHA Mr. Dimitrios Houpisthe EOPYY Director Mrs. Theano Karpodini and the President of EOPYY Ms. Vasiliki-Konstantina Gogozotouthe Member of Parliament Ms. Milena Apostolakithe President of the Medical Association of Athens, Mr. George Patoulisgeneral secretaries of the Ministry of Health, Mr. Dimitrios SpyridisCEO of the Hellenic Healthcare Group, as well as a number of famous names from the business, academic and medical worlds, government and institutional officials as well as senior executives of the Group’s administration, distinguished cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, nurses and technologists of the HHG Hospitals as well as general public.

HYGEIA and MITERA, implementing a multi-year strategy, presented their ability to cover in the best way the whole range of heart diseases from the newborn age to the very old ages, while at the same time monitoring and applying in the most modern and effective way the developments in major evolving fields such as:

– Medical imaging in cardiovascular medicine
– The application of transcatheter valves for all heart valves, an extremely important development in recent years
– Cardiac surgery of small surgical incisions and endoscopic cardiac surgery
– and finally all developments concerning modern interventional arrhythmology and individual developments in atrial fibrillation ablation.

Furthermore, HYGEIA, recognizing the strategic importance of the extroversion and development of medical tourism, deemed it appropriate to establish International Cardiac Surgery Center of Greece / HYGEIAwith manager Mr. Theodoros Kofidis in order to more fully organize a number of actions involving innovative solutions in the evolving cardiac surgery and attracting patients from abroad.

Mr. Andreas KartapanisPresident and CEO of HYGEIA hospital and CEO of MITERA, during his opening speech, said: “The top medical staff of our Hospitals, our well-trained nurses and the latest generation of technological equipment, compose over the years the most reliable and high-level health services in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The establishment of the International Heart Surgery Center Greece/HYGEIA reinforces our commitment to excellence and pioneering. Our goal is to provide high-level services to our patients, promoting Greece as an international destination for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.”

Professor Mr. Panos VardasCoordinator of the Heart Department of HYGEIA and MITERA hospitals, presented the latest developments in the field of cardiovascular medicine, with an emphasis on innovation and the use of cutting-edge technologies, such as interventional cardiology and artificial intelligence.

This was followed by a panel discussion with the participation of eleven distinguished cardiologists and cardiac surgeons from HYGEIA and MITERA hospitals. The participants, Mrs. Aphrodite Gifa and Mr. Petros Danias, Dimitrios Iliopoulos, Michael Koutouzis, Stylianos Konstantinidis, Photios Mitropoulos, Stratis Pattakos, Athanasios Pipilis, Konstantinos Spargias, Stylianos Tzeis and Ilias Tsougos, discussed the modern therapeutic approaches and challenges in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

The event ended with the speech of Mr. Theodorou KofidisDirector of the International Cardiac Surgery Center of Greece/HYGEIA and Director of the 1st Cardiac Surgery Clinic of HYGEIA, who presented the vision of the Center, highlighting the importance of applying innovative surgical applications, modern education and of course developing extroversion in attracting patients from foreign countries.

The hospitals HEALTH and MOTHER confirm their commitment to continuously invest in new diagnostic and therapeutic methods, contributing to the advancement of scientific knowledge and to the treatment of cardiac diseases, which are one of the greatest threats to public health today.