Best Coronary artery disease cardiologists in Italy: TOP 8 doctors

The prof. Giuseppe Speziale holds the positions of the National Coordinator of Cardiac Surgery of GVM Care & Research, the Director of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Anthea Hospital and Città di Lecce Hospital, and Director of the Department of Cardiac Surgery of the Santa Maria Hospital. He works at the Cardiological Clinical Institute (ICC) and San Carlo di Nancy Hospital in Rome. Since 2011 he has also held the position of Vice President of GVM Care & Research. In 2012 he occupied the charge of President of Confindustria Puglia, Health Section, and since 2018 he is Vice President of Aiop Puglia (Italian association of private hospitals). The prof. Speziale is a cardiac surgeon specializing in the minimally invasive surgical treatment of valve diseases, expert in minimally invasive repair of the mitral valve, in On and Off Pump myocardial revascularization, in thoracic aortic surgery. He is Co - Founder and President of the Scientific Committee of Mitral Academy, an independent association born from the passion for mitral surgery and the desire to pursue and share excellence in restorative surgery, with particular attention to minimally invasive techniques and the evaluation of potential therapeutic treatments deriving from the use of new technologies. Until 2016 he was elected Director of the Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery. He is part of the following associations: AATS (American Association for Thoracic Surgery), Italian Society of Cardiology Accredited Hospital, SICOA (active member), ISMICS (International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery). Since 2004 he has held the position of Scientific Director of the Italian Cardiopathic Association onlus.

In the field of scientific research, he focuses on new approaches, applicable in the field of minimally invasive and non-invasive mitral, aortic, cardiac arrhythmias and tricuspid surgery. He was the coordinator and researcher of the various projects of the National Research Council on Myocardial Infarction, on the treatment of pulmonary hypertension, on new technologies for carrying out coronary, cardiopulmonary and normothermic bypass. He was an adjunct professor at the Sapienza University of Rome where he held the Chair of Cardiology II, and at the University of Ferrara, where he teaches Cardiac Surgery. He has presented numerous scientific papers at national and international congresses of cardiology and cardiac surgery.

Bibliography: He is co-author of 6 books known nationally and internationally. The most recent one is Advances in Treatments for Aortic Valve and Root Diseases, publisher Springer International Publishing, 2018.

He is Reviewer and author of over 90 publications of multiple journals, such as Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, Heart & Lung: The Journal of Cardiopulmonary and Acute Care, European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Journal on Cardiac, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery etc.

Awards: “Top Doctors Awards”, 2021

Dr. Francesco Bedogni is an Interventional Cardiologist at San Donato Hospital in Milan and a European proctor for TAVI and MITRACLIP. He is a board member of the Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology and is responsible for multiple clinical studies and position papers.

In 1995 he graduated at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery form the Catanzaro University “Magna Graecia”, where, in 2001, he specialized in Internal Medicine. In 2006 he attended the “State of the Art in AFIB and HF Treatments” course directed by Dr. Carlo Pappone. In 2014 he attended the Heart Rhythm Management Center Universitair Ziekenhuis in Brussel and obtained the certification for the procedures for the treatment of atrial fibrillation using cryoenergy (Cryoballon Training Program). In 2015, he was certified for MICRA-TPS leadless pacemaker implantation procedures at Medtronic Training Center in Minneapolis (MICRA-TPS Training Program).

Dr Iacopino is a member of important national and international scientific societies such as the American College of Cardiology, the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society, the European Heart Rhythm Association and the European Society of Cardiology. He directs several study projects, applicable to great benefit for the patient on the identification of rare syndromes associated with arrhythmias and heart failure, such as Brugada syndrome, or Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. He recently tested, for the first time in Italy, the CardioInsight, an innovative hi-tech jacket for 3D mapping of the heart rhythm disturbances. He has participated and hosted numerous medical conferences around the world, providing theoretical and practical preparation for the various interventional procedures aimed at electrophysiologists and electrophysiology technicians from all over Italy and abroad (United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Russia). He was a member of the AIAC National Electrophysiology and Ablation Registry, the AIAC Lead Extraction National Registry and the AIAC Pacemaker and Implantable Defibrillator National Registry.

He is author or co-author of several publications and interventions in prestigious medical journals (total impact factor: 169.098).

He has been awarded different fellowships: 

- Fellowship ANMCO (National Association of Hospital Cardiologists), Florence, 3 June 2007; 

- Fellowship ESC (European Society of Cardiology), Munich, 1 September 2008; 

- Fellowship ACC (American College of Cardiology), Atlanta, February 1, 2010

Education Dr. Castriota graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Milan. He continued his postgraduate training at the University of Bologna where he obtained two specializations: the first one in Cardiology in 1992 and then in Radiology. From 1995 to 1996 he spent a period as a Fellow in the "Arizona Heart Institute" under the supervision of Professor Diethrich.

Research Dr. Castriota is an active member of some scientific societies, such as SIRM (Italian Society of Medical Radiology), Fellow of the Scientific College of the Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology (GISE), Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC), European Cardiovascular Interventional Society (EAPCI) and of ISES, International Society of Endovascular Specialist. He is the principal investigator of a recent Protected TAVR study, aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of a particular device for brain protection during aortic valve replacement surgery using the TAVI endovascular method.

Publications He is a member of the International Editorial Board of Eurointervention, speaker and chairman for the execution of live cases in national and international conferences.

Author of about 150 full-length publications

Author of over 20 chapters in specialized volumes

Awards: NHMRC Career Development Fellowship, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, 2015.

Prof. Savini works at the Cardiac Surgery Department at the Maria Cecilia Hospital, as one of the main specialists, with an international background. He worked for the best European institutions for cardiology as Staff Surgeon, such as the Civil Hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico; at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona, Spain and at the St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, Holland; at the San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy and at the OLV Hospital, Aalst, Belgium.

Prof. Savini specializes in Mitral restorative surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Percutaneous aortic valve, Thoracic Aortic Surgery, Atrial Fibrillation Surgery, Cardiac Transplant and Decompensation Surgery, and extracorporeal circulation and myocardial protection.

In 1994 Prof. Savini graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Bologna with full marks, where he later specialized in Cardiac Surgery with a thesis in Myocardial protection. In 2017 he completed a PhD research in the field of Surgical Treatment of Aortic Valve Stenosis – Role of new technologies. 

He works as Associate Professor at Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna

His scientific interest is focused on Mitral restorative surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Percutaneous aortic valve, Disompensation Surgery and Extracorporeal circulation and myocardial protection. 

Member of scientific societies:

• Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery (SICCH)
• Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery (SICCH)
• European Association for CardioThoracic Surgery (EACTS)
• International Society of Minimal Invasive Cardiac Surgery (ISMICS)

Prof. Savini is author and co-author of several publications in the field of coronary artery and thoracic aortic diseases, aortic valve repair treatment and replacement, all available on the Website of the National Library of Medicine