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On this page you can choose the best doctors for Heart Surgery in Germany and Austria. Our goal is to present you with the optimal selection of renowned doctors and their modern and gentle surgical and treatment methods when you are looking for specialists.
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On our website, we provided the detailed information regarding German clinics that deal with cardiac surgery.
Modern cardio surgery is a safe method of fibromuscular hollow organ abnormalities abolition. This area of medicine provides an opportunity to prevent myocardial infarct and release a patient from aneurysm which is a disease consequence.
Heart surgeries in Germany are carried out in cases when non-conservative methods are not efficient anymore and a patient starts feeling worse. Moreover, surgical intervention may become the only way in cases of patient’s untimely reference to a doctor.
In 2018, 410,840 heart surgeries were performed in German hospitals. That was around 23 percent more heart surgeries than ten years ago, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on the occasion of World Heart Day (September 29, 2019).
Most often, doctors implanted a pacemaker (127,113 times). In second and third place were the creation of a bypass (64,430 procedures) as well as removal, change or correction of a pacemaker (60,586 procedures). So-called minimally invasive surgeries on heart valves were performed 35,877 times. The patient is operated through natural openings in the body or through minimal incisions. In a further 24,223 cases, heart valves were replaced with prostheses.
According to the statisticians, the cardiac patients were on average 71 years old at the time of the intervention. Almost two thirds were men. On average, they were hospitalized for eleven days for the procedure.
If a patient visits a qualified doctor in a specialized clinic in time, noticing the first heart disease symptoms, the surgery can be avoided. But situations when a patient needs a surgical treatment are more often. Heart surgeries in Germany allow getting rid of the following problems:
It’s important to know that some cardio handicaps have both acquired and intrinsic characters. That is why a surgery is not cured noticeably and can be developed to the stage that surgeries in Germany are already vitally necessarily.
While performing closed surgeries doctors don’t affect a patient’s heart and carry out these surgeries without direct surgical aggression. In a case of open diseases, heart cavity defects can be fixed with a help of a special cardiac valve pump.
Interventional heart radiology surgeries in Germany were performed quite recently, so in virtue of technological progress such treatment method is the top one. Surgery is carried out using slim balloon catheters, patches and expanding tubules. Heart surgeries in Germany are performed together with early technics, creating and completing the surgery process.
Elderly people oftentimes suffer from stenosis which is an aortic valve narrowing. This disease is a quite widespread disorder that can lead to such tissue abnormalities as sclerosis and calcinosis. When a patient has a stenosis, it means that valve replacement is required. During such surgery, a patient’s heart gets a prosthesis being implanted and placed at the coronary stent. Valve replacement influences hemodynamic status of a patient and doesn’t need any mechanical aorta injury or using any kind of special equipment.
Clinical scores allow using two types of prostheses: valve prosthesis and another prosthesis that is based on expandable stent. The first type of valves is used during retrograde access replacement through the femoral artery or under a collar bone.
Congenital heart diseases are successfully treated in German clinics no matter what is the complexity of a particular disease or its stage. Highly-qualified doctors often choose the optimal treatment method that helps quickly reanimate a patient.
Traditionally in cases of heart defects doctors use the conventional surgical intervention. If a patient has some disease complications, then treatment is provided in stages. If a patient cannot be treated even with a help of surgical intervention, the only option to cure this patient is to replace his heart valve in Germany.
In cases, when a patient’s heart rate is defective, doctors set up a defibrillator that stimulates heart function at the necessary rate. This procedure is conducted in cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Brugada syndrome, ventricular fibrillation and QT prolongation syndrome. The procedure is carried out in German clinics at a high level because of qualified specialists with formidable experience in this area.
Aneurysm is a “slow” disease that bulges out artery or vein walls that are stretched or becoming thin. German clinics use modern treatment technics to cure this disease. Endovascular surgery of blood vessels is one of the most effective and widespread methods. This surgery is usually carried out with a help of special medical appliances under radial imaging control.
Please, contact us in order to get in touch with professionals from the offered clinics. We will be pleased to help you and provide the best treatment!
The heart is literally a life center. In human body it carries out the most important function of supplying all the organs and tissues with blood enriched with oxygen and nutrients. But the heart is a muscle penetrated with vessel and in average life cycle it pumps over 5.7 million liters of blood, so earlier or later it starts getting tired. There are plenty of diverse heart disorders of different degrees in modern diagnostics, and some of them could require of operational approach. Among the surgical interventions, open heart surgery is still the most applicable in many cases.
Heart surgery helps to cure many diseases of the cardiovascular system, that are not amenable to standard therapeutic procedures, as:
The cardiology centers in Germany are aimed to reduce human mortality of heart malformations.
Due to the modern technical means supporting cardiac surgeon’s skills, nowadays it is possible to cure the diseases considered as mortal in the past. When the first intracardiac open heart surgery was performed in 1952, it seemed as nearly the miracle, but now these kinds of operations have become quite routine and a number of clinics offers the services on restoration of heart function using invasive techniques.
The most common cardiovascular surgery is Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG), which performed through the long incision in the breast with open view of the heart. This procedure is normally done to replace narrowed heart arteries with alternative way of blood supply and it lasts for 3-4 hours. The heart is stopped during operation and replaced with cardiopulmonary bypass.
But CABG is just a one of various operations aimed to restore a normal functioning of the heart muscle, valves and great vessels. Defective valve replacement, aortic pathologies correction, and even transplantation of a donor heart are offered in the medical centers of Germany, where the proficiency of physicians allows to carry out the most difficult treatments returning the health to patients who almost left all the hopes for normal life. The complex diagnostics equipment, comprehensive method and high professional surgeons together with typically German quality approach gives to every patient good chances not significant improvement.
Recovery from open heart surgery is a long process that requires a special attention of professional medical staff. The modern and well maintained medical centers in German clinics have all the necessary facilities to shorten rehabilitation and make it more effective. After intensive care a patient remains in hospital under constant thorough observation till complete recovery. In a first stage, it is very important to get rid of inflammations and side effects, as in this case we deal with a big wound, which could affect with different complications. The doctors examine reactions and changes in the state of patient and take timely measures if something goes wrong. The part of postoperative care is a pain relief, but, actually, that pain is not that strong as it was before surgery.
But rehabilitation does not finish in a hospital for in-patients; it lasts long after with periodical checkup and supporting procedures. It is necessary to develop a program of step-by-step returning to everyday activities during postoperative period. It starts from minimal load to the body and follows by gradual increasing of regular exercising till a point of normal functioning.
The classical operations always were performed, when the heart of a patient is open and stopped beating. But, currently, it became possible to carry out complex interventions on the beating heart without involving heart-lung apparatus. It is reached my means of minimally invasive open heart surgery, which significantly reduces the risks related to the use of heart-lung machine and possible inflammations after the surgery. In this case, a number of small incisions in a chest are made instead of big one and operation is made using robotized technology under the accurate control of the cardiac surgeon.
If you are interested in treatment of the heart disease with operative methods and need further assistance, please contact one of German medical centers below for consultation. Competent advice of the doctor is a first step to strong health without pain and discomfort. The diagnostic equipment and high professionalism of specialist give you a guarantee of precise diagnosis, and timely carried surgery could save you from many risks and complications which could develop if neglected. Your health is our job and we can do it with our open heart and caring hands.
German Medical Group will inform you in detail about your future treatment in Germany. Germany is one of the most popular places for treatment of cardiovascular problems. More than 100,000 cardiac surgical operations are conducted in Germany every year, the largest share of which is accounted for by structural heart defects and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
Minimally invasive operations involve hybrid techniques and are done to treat the following cardiac diseases:
Coronary artery bypass grafting is a kind of cardiac surgery, which is carried out to treat coronary heart problems and/or ischemic heart disease. Coronary artery disorders result from severe metabolic disruptions in cardiac vessels, which contribute to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the vessels (atherosclerosis), causing them to narrow and impair the nutrition of the myocardium.
The surgery consists in the implantation of a graft to bypass the constricted section of a vessel. The minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting method reestablishes blood flow in the myocardium and rebuilds its function.
The majority of heart valve diseases require surgical treatment. Usually, German cardiologists do their uttermost to preserve the natural valves by repairing them and eliminating structural defects.
Severe cases may require replacement of affected valves with artificial ones. Based on the situation and underlying diseases, if any, doctors can pick up the most appropriate type of prosthetic cardiac valve. Every patient is invited to a conversation on the pros and cons of each type of artificial valve (biological, mechanical, etc.) based on his/her individual situation. Implementation of the latest scientific achievements enables us to conduct non-invasive high-tech cardiac operations.
An aneurysm is a bulge in the wall of a blood vessel, which, if it grows larger than 2 inches in diameter can break and cause death. Therefore, this condition requires surgical treatment.
Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common types of heartbeat disorders. In cases whereby pharmaceutical treatment methods are no longer effective, atrial ablation is applied. Mainly, this procedure is aimed at preventing apoplectic seizures.
Indications for pacemaker implantation (cardiac surgery):
In Germany, installation of defibrillators involves the use of high-tech equipment. Our highly qualified doctors have a great experience in performing such operations with guaranteed safety and integrity. Indications (cardiac surgery):
These conditions used to require open-heart operations with a complete dissection of the breastbone and cutting open the ribcage. Today, cardiac surgeons use innovative techniques, which require but a minor incision.
Such operations are no less effective than open-heart surgeries. This minimally invasive hybrid technique reduces pain and aggravations, such as sternum inflammation, bleeding and respiratory inflammation. Patients end up with only a small post-operative scar. Minimally invasive treatment does not require a lengthy hospital stay and ensures quick rehabilitation.
The clinics of Germany offer the full range of services for the treatment of pathologies of the heart and the cardiovascular system. Below we provide information on the most common methods of heart surgery in Germany and the cost for these services.
Here below you can find some additional information about the treatment methods and average cost.
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a type of heart surgery which results in the creation of new ways for the blood flow bypassing the completely or partially occluded part of the blood vessels of the heart. In other words, new coronary arteries are made. At CABG the veins of the lower extremities or the arteries, supplying blood to the chest wall, are used. The usage of the arteries, supplying blood to the chest wall, is more physiological at CABG because the arterial shunts in their patoanatomic structure are closer to one’s own coronary vessels.
At present, the method of minimally invasive cardiac surgery is very developed when performing coronary artery bypass grafting. In this case heart surgery is conducted through a small incision without a cardiopulmonary bypass apparatus. This type of heart surgery is better tolerated by patients, not to mention the cosmetic effect. Endoscopic cardiac surgery is gaining more popularity now.
The cost of coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) is about 25.000 euro. After CABG a three-week course of rehabilitation is recommended, whose cost is from 5000 euro.
Below we give the table, which shows only approximate rates for heart surgery in Germany.
| Heart Surgery in Germany | Average price (cost) in euro |
| installation of aortocoronary venous shunts | from 34 300 |
| cardiac surgery and reconstruction of the valve at congenital heart disease | from 30 000 |
| aneurysm of the wall, septal defect, cardiac surgery without reconstruction of the valves | about 35 000 |
| Congenital valve defect, an operation with a heart-lung apparatus, attendance in the surgical intensive care unit, removal of stitches, till passing to the rehabilitation unit | about 32 500 |
| correction of the valve | about 33 500 |
| correction of two valves | about 40 500 |
| episodic therapy, correction of the valve | about 40 000 |
| Maintenance and change of an implanted defibrillator | about 44 000 |
| Cardiac catheter examination with coronaroangiography | about 44 000 |
| without dilation | about 1 500 |
| with dilation | about 5 500 |
| The usage of the extracorporal one-ventricular support pump system for blood circulation with a pneumatic or electromagnetic drive | about 30 000 |
| The usage of the extracorporal bi-ventricular support pump system for blood circulation with a pneumatic or electromagnetic drive | about 42 500 |
| The change of the extracorporal univentricular support pump system for blood circulation with a pneumatic or electromagnetic drive | about 13 500 |
| The change of the extracorporal univentricular support pump system for blood circulation with a pneumatic or electromagnetic drive | about 20 000 |
Nowadays, in Russia there are no analogues for this relatively new examination of the heart in Europe. Thanks to this unique method it is possible by means of local irritation of the bundles of the cardiac conducting system by electric current to find out and eliminate the dangerous heart rhythm disorders (atrial fibrillation, extrasystole), which are the most common cause of death.
This method of examination is recommended to the patients, who have sudden losses of consciousness. Besides, atrial fibrillation and WPW syndrome are treated effectively in this way.
The cost of this examination is about 9000 euro in Germany.
The procedure of electrocardiography registers cardiac electrical activity. With its help it is possible to see the violations of the heart rates. The examination is conducted both during exercise (running, walking, biking – a loading test) and at rest.
Echocardiography, when the heart is examined by ultrasound, provides more accurate functional and anatomical information.
Coronary angiography is performed in the angiography laboratory. The examination is a roentgenological method, at which the severity of the injury, risks, and the location of the critical stenoses are estimated and a therapeutic approach is determined.
Intravascular ultrasound study is an invasive examination of the artery by means of a catheter equipped with an ultrasonic sensor. The intravascular ultrasound method gives maximally accurate information about the internal state of the artery.
Coronary angiography is a radiopaque research method, which is the most accurate and reliable way of the diagnosis of CHD (coronary heart disease), allowing to determine precisely the location, nature, and the degree of narrowing of the coronary artery. In the diagnosis of CHD this method has become the “gold standard”, it enables to solve the question of the type and amount of further therapeutic procedures such as bypass surgery and balloon angioplasty.
In Germany, the complex examination of the heart, including coronary and electrocardiography, costs from 6.500 euro. In comparison with other foreign clinics the same examination of the heart will cost:
If you have any questions in regard to heart surgery and the upcoming treatment of the heart in Germany, our company will provide you with a detailed consultation, concerning the organization of the treatment and transfer, and the cost of the heart surgery.
28.10.2021
Pacemaker, bypass, artificial heart valve: more than 400,000 heart operations were performed on patients in Germany in 2020. Ten years ago there were significantly fewer. Surgeons see this as a step forward.
More and more patients are being operated on at the heart. In 2020, 410,840 heart operations were performed in German hospitals. That was around 23 percent more heart operations than ten years ago, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on the occasion of World Heart Day on September 29th. The possible causes of the increase were not discussed.
Most frequently, doctors implanted a pacemaker / defibrillator (127,113 times). In second and third place were the creation of a bypass (64,430 interventions) and removal, replacement or correction of a pacemaker / defibrillator (60,586 interventions). Minimally invasive operations on heart valves were performed 35,877 times. Heart valves were replaced with prostheses in a further 24,223 cases.
According to the Wiesbaden statisticians, the heart patients were on average 71 years old at the time of the operation. Almost two thirds were men. On average, they were in hospital for eleven days for the procedure.
Cardiac surgeons see the increase as positive: It shows that, thanks to innovations and technical progress, patients can be treated better today than they were ten years ago, said the company's managing director, Andreas Beckmann. This applies particularly to structural heart valve diseases as well as heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias. But the development is not uniform, the increase is not taking place in all areas, said Beckmann.
17.10.2021
Operations in which cardiac patients receive stents are about millimeters and precision. Computer technology should help doctors with the interventions. Gießen cardiologists are leading the way and see some advantages of the technology.
With the help of a robot system, doctors at the University Clinic in Gießen operated on a cardiac patient and inserted a stent tube into her. According to the clinic, this is a nationwide premiere. The technology should help to make the procedure safer, better and more precise, said the clinic director of the Giessen cardiology department, Christian Hamm. It's about the finest vessels and millimeters matter. Previously, the patient's doctors, supported by the robot, had inserted a stent into a narrowed coronary artery in a minimally invasive procedure in order to reopen it.
Another advantage of the technology is that it significantly reduces radiation exposure for doctors. X-rays are used in such operations to identify the heart vessels. Thanks to the robot, the surgeons no longer have to stand directly at the operating table. According to the participating medical technology company Siemens Healthineers, the robot system is used at 80 locations worldwide.
With the method, one can "move stents forwards or backwards very precisely with small movements in order to bring them into place," said Holger Nef, who had performed the operation with his team. The robot, which costs around half a million euros, is controlled via a controller. The Giessen doctors now want to gain more experience with the technology, embedded in research projects.
Robot-assisted operations are already being carried out in various medical fields. In cardiology, this has not yet existed, said Benny Levenson, a board member at the Federal Association of Resident Cardiologists. "I believe that you can partially use robotic systems in heart operations. But in the end you still need an experienced doctor." In cardiology, such systems could only be the "co-pilot at the side of a doctor".
The system should not replace the doctor, but rather be an additional aid, said Albrecht Elsässer from the German Society for Cardiology. The aim should be to be able to use such a technology universally and across the board in five to ten years. Therefore, cardiologists should now be trained accordingly.
07.10.2021
The German Heart Center Berlin (DHZB) is the first clinic in Germany to use a new type of system for preserving donor hearts. The organ is supplied with a special nutrient and preservation fluid via a pump during transport. The new technology should enable an even better function of the donor organs as well as significantly longer transports. After very good results in animal experiments, it is now being used in human hearts as part of an approval study. Confirmation of the efficiency of this system would have significant consequences for transplant medicine.
The time in which a donor organ is not supplied with blood during transport from the donor to the recipient is known as the ischemia time. It is an important factor in the success of a heart transplant. Because of all the organs that can be removed from a deceased person for donation, the heart is the fastest damaged if it is not supplied with blood.
So far, donor hearts have mostly been rinsed with a preservative solution at around four degrees Celsius and transported in cool boxes. In this way, tissue damage can initially be largely reliably avoided. Nevertheless, the ischemia time for donor hearts should not exceed four hours if possible. The options for selecting a suitable organ for people on the waiting list are accordingly limited.
A new system has now been developed in Sweden which could remove this restriction quite comprehensively. It consists of a new device for transport and a special solution for preserving the organ and is now being used as the first clinic in Germany as part of an international approval study at the DHZB.
The device, called the "XVIVO Heart Box", weighs around 25 kilograms and is slightly larger than a moving box. It essentially contains a cooling system, a circulation pump and an oxygenator, in other words an artificial lung, to put it simply.
Before transport, the device is filled with a newly developed nutrient and preservation solution. It consists, among other things, of red blood cells, various hormones, proteins and human albumin, a protein that serves both as a "transporter" for hormones and as a regulator for osmotic pressure in human blood.
After removal from the donor's body, the heart is first connected to the circulatory pump in the "Heart Box" and then stored floating in the nutrient and preservation solution. The heart is continuously flushed with the solution via the pump in the "Heart Box" during transport. The heart muscle cells are continuously supplied with fresh oxygen with the help of an oxygenator. The circuit is cooled to a constant eight degrees Celsius for additional preservation of the organ.
From the doctors' point of view, the premiere was a success. After being transplanted into a 65-year-old Berliner, the heart showed excellent functionality.
In animal experiments, the "Heart Box" has already impressively demonstrated its functionality, says heart surgeon Dr. med. Felix Hennig, who coordinates the study at the DHZB: "Outside of the body, pig hearts damage even faster than human hearts, but even after 24 hours of use, no impairment of functionality was noticeable."
The system has now been approved for use on humans as part of an international study and was used for the first time in Germany at the DHZB. In addition to the DHZB, eight other centers are currently participating in the study. It is designed and randomized for more than 200 missions, so the "Heart Box" is used according to the random factor.
The developers and first users hope that the study will scientifically confirm several key advantages of the system: "The possibility of significantly longer transport times without damaging the donor organ could significantly increase the number of possible donor organs for our patients on the waiting list "says cardiac surgeon Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Knosalla, surgical director of the transplant program at the DHZB; "In addition, we could accept organs that we have to reject today because they would not survive short transports without oxygen supply due to various factors."
Doctors also expect better protection of the donor heart if the removal of the diseased organ from the recipient is particularly time-consuming, for example after mechanical circulatory support or other previous operations, says Prof. Christoph Knosalla. His conclusion: "We are very confident that the results of the study will confirm our assessment that transplant medicine is about to make great progress here."
06.10.2021
The annual cardiac surgery facts and figures published by the German Society for Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery e.V. (DGTHG) show nationwide cardiac surgical care at a consistently high level.
The cardiac surgery performance figures - categorized according to interventions and survival rates - are published annually by the Society for Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery (DGTHG). Nationwide, comprehensive patient care is ensured by the 78 established specialist departments for cardiac surgery and a total of around 980 specialists for cardiac surgery. In the past year, the total number of heart operations in the narrower sense rose slightly by 1.8 percent to 100,446 operations (2018: 98,707). If you include all recorded intervention categories and count pacemaker and defibrillator interventions, as well as operations on the main artery close to the heart without the use of the heart-lung machine, the total number adds up to 175,705 in 2019 (interventions in 2018: 174,902).
In the last ten years (2009-2019) the number of cardiac surgery operations in patients aged 70+ has increased significantly. Despite the annual increase in the number of elderly patients in the cardiac surgery departments, the hospital survival rates in the individual intervention categories remained consistently stable. In 2019, 33.5 percent of the patients were 70 to 79 years old; 18.6 percent even 80 years and older. The group of over 80-year-olds increased by 6.2 percent in the past year and made up 18.6 percent of all operated heart patients. The almost constant survival rate of approx. 97 percent reflects the successful and high-quality cardiac surgical care for elderly and very old patients.
For 2019, there was a slight increase in isolated coronary bypass operations from 0.66 percent to 34,224 (2018: 33,999) with a simultaneous increase (0.2 percent) in the survival rate to 97.3 percent. The number of coronary bypass operations with additional procedures was 9,869 in 2019 compared to 10,264 in 2018.
Nationwide, aortic valve stenosis is currently the most common invasively treated heart valve disease, followed by mitral valve insufficiency. While 34,915 isolated heart valve operations were counted in 2018, there were already 36,650 last year - an increase of around 4.7 percent. The majority of heart valve operations involve the aortic valve. In the past year, 9,391 patients underwent an isolated cardiac aortic valve operation using the heart-lung machine (2018: 10,022). In a further 1,358 combined interventions, the aortic valve was replaced and the mitral valve was reconstructed or replaced at the same time. Through the use of catheter-supported therapy methods, the number of interventions in patients with acquired heart valve diseases has increased noticeably in the last ten years. The decision for cardiac surgery or catheter-assisted therapy is based on scientific guidelines, in which an established interdisciplinary cardiac team is obligatory. The trend of the last few years continued in the 6,419 (2018: 6,222) isolated mitral valve operations: in around two thirds or 64.5 percent (+ 0.2% compared to the previous year with 64.3%) of the operations, the patient's own mitral valve could be reconstructed, whereby the survival rate was 98.9 percent. In the remaining 2,279 operations, the mitral valve was surgically replaced with a prosthesis. This is also against the background that not every heart valve defect is accessible for reconstruction. The in-hospital survival rates rose to 99.2 percent for the reconstructions.
The number of implanted cardiac support systems for severely heart failure patients increased from 942 in 2018 to a total of 953 last year, with left / right heart support systems being used in 97 percent of patients (924 L / RAVD in the previous year: 903) . The biventricular cardiac support systems with a number of 14 implantations in 2019 (previous year: 16) and the so-called total artificial heart with transplanted 15 TAHs in 2019 (2018: 23) play a rather subordinate role.
Fortunately, the number of donor hearts and thus the number of heart transplants increased by 6.7 percent: from 312 (2018) to 333 last year. The DGTHG welcomes the increasing willingness to donate organs and at the same time points out that around 10,000 people nationwide are waiting for a suitable organ. With the specialty society's own campaign, started in February 2020, the cardiac surgeons want to further raise awareness of the topic, because to date there has been no adequate substitute for the human heart.
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