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

24 October 2024

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

The event was attended by the Minister of Health Mr. Adonis Georgiadis, representing the President of the Government, the Deputy Minister of Health Mrs. Eirini Agapidaki, the Deputy Minister of Health Mr. Marios Themistokleous, the Chief of the General Staff Mr. Dimitrios Choupis, the Director of EOPYY Mrs. Theano Karpodini and the President of EOPYY Mrs. Vasiliki-Konstantina Gkogkozotou, the Member of Parliament Mrs. Milena Apostolaki, the President of the Athens Medical Association Mr. Georgios Patoulis, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Mr. Dimitrios Spyridis, CEO of the Hellenic Healthcare Group, as well as a number of prominent figures from the business, academic and medical world, government and institutional executives as well as senior executives of the Group’s management, distinguished cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, nurses and technologists of the HHG Hospitals and the general public.

By implementing a long-term strategy, HYGEIA and MITERA have demonstrated their ability to cover the entire spectrum of cardiac diseases from neonatal to very old age in the best possible way, while at the same time monitoring and applying in the most modern and effective way the developments in the most important evolving fields such as:

• Cardiovascular medical imaging
• The use of transcatheter valves for all heart valves, an extremely important development in recent years
• Small-incision cardiac surgery and endoscopic cardiac surgery
• And finally all the developments in modern interventional arrhythmia and developments in atrial fibrillation ablation.

Furthermore, HYGEIA, recognizing the strategic importance of extroversion and the development of medical tourism, considered it appropriate to establish the International Center for Cardiac Surgery Greece / HYGEIA, with Mr. Theodoros Kofidis as Director, in order to organize a series of actions that include innovative solutions in the evolving field of cardiac surgery and attracting patients from abroad.

Andreas Kartapanis, President and CEO of HYGEIA Hospital and CEO of MITERA, said in his opening remarks: “The top medical staff of our hospitals, our highly trained nurses and the latest generation of technological equipment have over the years provided the most reliable and high quality healthcare services in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The establishment of the International Center for Cardiovascular Surgery Greece/HYGEIA reinforces our commitment to excellence and leadership. Our goal is to provide high quality services to our patients and to promote Greece as an international destination for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.”

Professor Panos Vardas, Coordinator of the Cardiac Department at HYGEIA and MITERA hospitals, presented the latest developments in the field of cardiovascular medicine, focusing 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, Ms. Afroditi Tzifa and Messrs. Petros Danias, Dimitrios Iliopoulos, Michail Koutouzis, Stylianos Konstantinidis, Fotios Mitropoulos, Stratis Pattakos, Athanasios Pipilis, Konstantinos Spargias, Stylianos Tzeis and Ilias Tsougkos, discussed the modern therapeutic approaches and challenges in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

The event was concluded with the speech of Mr. Theodoros Kofidis, Director of the International Center for Cardiac Surgery Greece/HYGEIA and Director of the 1st Cardiac Surgery Clinic of HYGEIA, who presented the vision of the Center, highlighting the importance of innovative surgical applications, modern training and certainly the development of extroversion in attracting patients from abroad.

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