Column
Dear members of Tokyo D Tower hospital.
It is a pleasure and honor to start this column series written by me, every month.
As you know, medicine and especially cardiac surgery is developing fast, and there will be lots of interesting things to share – published news form the clinical perspective, to new devices approved or in process of approval globally and locally, reports from the conferences in Japan and around the world, late breaking news from conferences, everything – for all of us – to be informed and up-to-date with recent development, and of course primarily with the goal – to serve our patients and our society better. Every day, every patient every procedure.
In February there was an important conference in Chiba, JSCVS, with many attendants from outside Japan. It was interesting to learn, that minimally invasive cardiac surgery, including robotics is finally getting attraction, as it deserves. This is very true, showing excellent results in all patients’ groups, and particularly in elderly population. This means faster recovery, less pain management and expedited return to productive life in society. TAVI approaches are of course very good and are for the great benefit of particular groups of patients, however, the careful selection is crucial, and adopting it in general, is under the question. The recent publication comparing TAVI and surgical AVR replacement in younger population after 7 years showed distinction in reintervention rate in favor of surgical treatment (Forrest JK, et al. JACC. 2026; 10.1016/j.jacc.2026.02.5063) – please see figure.
What does it mean? That surgery is still valid option and at least, for younger patients it may be more suitable.
Author of this article
Borut Gersak, MD, PhD
Specialty: Cardiovascular Surgery
He is a Professor of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, and is affiliated with the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University Medical Center Ljubljana.
With over 35 years of experience in the field of cardiovascular medicine, he has authored and presented more than 500 peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations on a wide range of topics in cardiac surgery.
He is currently particularly active in the United States and Japan.
Tokyo D Tower Hospital – Overview
advanced medical equipment
all-private rooms
〒135−0061
1st Floor & 3rd–5th Floors, D Tower Toyosu, 6-4-20 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
TEL：03−6910−1722
ACCESS：A 2-minute walk from Shijō-mae Station (Yurikamome Line)
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