Leipzig: Outstanding achievements in the field of cardiovascular imaging

Mitral valve surgery is a method, which is used to treat a leaking or narrowed mitral valve leakage (regurgitation) or narrowing (stenosis).

Our surgeons can restore the function of narrowed or leaking aortic valves and thus treat aortic valve narrowing (stenosis) and leakage (regurgitation).

Bypass surgery is used to treat narrowing of the coronary arteries when medication or stents and lifestyle changes are no longer sufficient.

A new minimally invasive cardiac surgery technique in which our specialists replace or restore the affected heart valves through a catheter.

Prof. Dr. Sergey Leontyev, MD and operating surgeon at the Leipzig Heart Center, one of the most recognized cardiac surgery hospitals in Germany, talks about the nuts and bolts of minimally invasive heart surgery techniques that eliminate the need for open-heart surgery, clarifies crucial criteria for choosing a hospital for cardiovascular disease treatment, and explains what drives down the risks of recurrence in cardiac patients.

Today we are here together with Prof. Dr. Ingo Dähnert, Director of the University Clinic for Pediatric Cardiology at the Heart Center in Leipzig, talking about congenital heart defects and the most common types of surgical treatment in pediatric heart surgery including the Norwood, Glenn and Fontan procedures.

For a quarter of a century, doctors, nurses and other medical staff at the Heart Center Leipzig have been caring for the well-being of cardiac patients. This place has long been one of the most popular addresses for medical professionals in Europe and is also known worldwide. It is not least due to the excellent staff working here. One of the staff members is Dr. Peter Kinzel, Senior Physician at the University Hospital of Paediatric Cardiology.

Today we are talking to Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Jaroslav Benedik, senior consultant at the Clinic for Cardiac Surgery and Cardiac Vascular Surgery at Helios Hospital Krefeld, about heart valve diseases and the innovative Ozaki method

Important Information for Ukrainian refugees upon arrival in Germany.

The Heart Center at Helios Hospital Siegburg is one of only a few specialized heart centers in Germany. For more than 20 years, heart specialists at the Heart Center Siegburg have been working to provide cardiological patients with the most up-to-date and highest-quality medical care.

Markus T. has been standing firm in life for 58 years. He never expected that he would require the use of an artificial heart (LVAD). Even less did he think that his heart would be so strong that it would eventually make the use of the LVAD unnecessary.

Dr. med. Alexey Dashkevich is Senior Physician and Division Director of the Heart Transplantation and Artificial Heart Program at Helios Heart Center Leipzig. Around 30 hearts and 50 artificial hearts are transplanted here every year. On the occasion of Organ Donation Day on June 3, he provides an insight into his daily work, the social circumstances and special challenges of transplantation medicine.

On May 15, little Karl-Gustav was transferred to the Helios Heart Center Leipzig with severe lung failure and successfully treated there. Beforehand, the parents and doctors from St. Georg Hospital feared for the boy's life for several days and searched for a clinic that could provide the necessary treatment space for a special lung support procedure.

Prof. Diyar Saeed, Chief Physician of the Clinic for Cardiac and Cardiac-Related Vascular Surgery at Helios Heart Center Niederrhein, has been appointed a member of the prestigious American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS).

9-year-old Safa from Afghanistan was successfully treated at the Heart Center Leipzig. The girl has been living in the Peace Village International in Oberhausen since the end of 2022. Her congenital heart defect was repaired thanks to donated treatment by the children's cardiology team at the Heart Center.

Around six million people in Germany suffer from coronary heart disease. Their heart is not supplied with enough oxygen because the blood flow to the heart is disturbed. Bypass surgery, which is traditionally performed on the open heart, can help. The situation is different at Heart Center Leipzig. Here, the operation is minimally invasive - gentler and safer for patients. Roland Grunert benefited from this surgical procedure and was quickly back on his feet.

The colleagues in the Cardiac Surgery department led by Head Physician Prof. Dr. Mirko Doss have implanted 500 special bioprostheses in recent months and have now received an award from the manufacturer.

Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Gutberlet has been awarded honorary membership of the European Society of Cardiovascular Radiology (ESCR) for his outstanding achievements in the field of cardiovascular imaging. The award was presented during the joint meeting of the ESCR and the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI) in Berlin. The honorary membership was awarded by the current President of the ESCR, Professor Rozemarijn Vliegenthart from Groningen/Netherlands.

A new type of completely artificial heart, a so-called 'total artificial heart' (TAH), has been implanted in a patient for the first time at Herzzentrum Leipzig. The special features of this type of artificial heart are that it completely imitates the heart's functions thanks to its integrated sensors and is not recognized as a foreign body due to its biocompatible surfaces. The operation was free of complications and the patient was able to leave the intensive care unit.

Leipzig University Hospital (UKL) and Leipzig Heart Centre have resumed their joint lung transplant program. After a five-year interruption, several patients have already been successfully transplanted by the newly formed joint team of experts from the Heart Center and the UKL since the restart in September 2023. The first patients have already left the hospital.

At Heart Center Leipzig, everything revolves around the heart all year round. Dieter Pietsch (91) and Alexander Scholz (53) were also treated at the specialist clinic for heart disease. Both received a new heart in Leipzig. Looking back, they talk about their personal transplant story and life with a donor heart.

The tricuspid valve is one of four heart valves. It ensures that blood flows in the right direction with every heartbeat. If this heart valve no longer closes properly, it may have to be repaired by surgery. The team at the Heart Center at Helios Hospital Siegburg offers various treatment options, including interventional valve replacement. In this interview, Prof. Dr. Marc Vorpahl, Head of Cardiology, Rhythmology and Angiology, explains who is eligible for this procedure and how it works.

An innovative aortic stent with an integrated side arm (Gore TAG TBE) was successfully implanted for the first time in Thuringia at the Helios Hospital in Erfurt. This procedure was used to treat a complex aortic dissection in the chest of a 65-year-old patient in a minimally invasive way - without an open bypass and with a short recovery time.

Vascular and cardiac surgeons at Helios University Hospital Wuppertal (HUKW) have inserted an aortic arch prosthesis in an interdisciplinary operation. It was the first operation of its kind at HUKW and in Wuppertal.

In Germany, approximately 10,000 people are affected by Marfan syndrome. This rare genetic disorder causes a connective tissue disease that affects multiple organ systems. In the heart, excessive dilation of blood vessels can lead to life-threatening ruptures, for example of the main artery (the aorta).
Michelle Bönisch and her son Jonas are both affected and underwent the necessary, life-saving surgery at the Herzzentrum Leipzig — with success.
What makes this case special is that the David procedure is usually performed only in adults. At the Leipzig Heart Center, the complex operation was successfully carried out on a five-year-old boy.

After years of unexplained symptoms, a severe congenital heart defect was diagnosed in the summer of 2022 in Charlotte, who was four years old at the time and urgently required surgery. Through open-heart surgery, the experts at the Heart Center Leipzig were able to cure the child and give her a new lease on life. Today, two years later, Charlotte is healthy, active, and athletic—and can finally enjoy a carefree childhood. Her story highlights the importance of early diagnosis and access to specialized medical care.

For the first time, an extravascular defibrillator was successfully implanted at the Heart Center Leipzig in a patient with the rare Brugada syndrome — a genetically determined disorder of the heart’s electrical signaling that can trigger life-threatening ventricular fibrillation. For affected patients, an appropriate defibrillator capable of detecting dangerous arrhythmias and pacing the heart during prolonged pauses represents the most important and life-saving therapy.

At the Heart Center Leipzig, a highly innovative heart support system was implanted in autumn 2025 – only for the third time in Europe. The DuoCor BiVAS supports both the left and right ventricles simultaneously and is significantly more compact than conventional biventricular systems. For the 67-year-old patient, Frank Schulz, the heart support system was the last hope, as he was not eligible for a heart transplant. The successful implantation was carried out following comprehensive patient counseling, interdisciplinary coordination, and in close collaboration with the manufacturer and cardiac technology teams. The patient has now been discharged home.

The Niederrhein Heart Center is taking a significant step forward in patient care: Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. med. Diyar Saeed, the first robot-assisted bypass operation within the Helios network was performed at the beginning of February.

At the Helios Hospital for Cardiac Surgery in Karlsruhe, the Karlsruhe Heart Team has implanted a so-called Evoque valve for the first time. This artificial valve replaces the tricuspid valve and has now been implanted for the first time using a particularly gentle catheter-based technique (minimally invasive).

At the Helios Hospital for Cardiac Surgery in Karlsruhe, Senior Physician and Head of Arrhythmia Surgery, Dr. Naser Ghaffari Mehrjerdi, together with Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kuschyk, Head of Cardiac Device Therapy at the University Hospital Mannheim, implanted an innovative defibrillator for the treatment of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. This procedure was performed at Helios for the first time. In the future, the Helios Heart Center Leipzig will also offer such procedures.

An increasing number of patients are benefiting from the Ross procedure, which is offered at the heart center of Helios Hospital Siegburg. In this rare surgical method, the diseased aortic valve is replaced with the patient’s own pulmonary valve, which is then substituted with a donor graft or a biological prosthesis.

Helios Hospitals demonstrates outstanding medical quality. The quality figures now published for 2025 show that patients at Helios receive care at the highest level.

As early as 1998, the world’s first robot-assisted heart valve surgery was performed at the Leipzig Heart Center. 28 years later, a new and improved generation of the da Vinci surgical robot is returning to its place of origin.

The cardiologists at Helios Stralsund are expanding their range of services with an innovative procedure for patients with severe heart disease: the so-called coronary sinus (CS) reducer. This new therapy is aimed particularly at people with advanced coronary artery disease for whom conventional treatments have been exhausted and who continue to suffer from chest pain (angina pectoris) and shortness of breath.