The RHU ICELAND project is led by Prof. Marco VOLA, cardiac surgeon, who has very early oriented his research on valvular innovation. He performed, and published the first human totally endoscopic valve replacement in 2014. He has been working since 2015 on the development of a direct annuloplasty solution to repair mitral valve by a transcatheter heart team approach. Pr VOLA is co-author of the first in human implantation of a transcatheter mitral monoleaftlet bioprothesis (JACC intervention 2023, DOI: 10.1016/j.jcin.2023.09.033).

The Valvular Surgery Department of the Louis Pradel Hospital in Lyon is under the responsibility of Prof. Marco VOLA since November 01, 2023. The department is recognized as:

• A world reference center for minimally invasive valve surgery (nearly 1,500 minimally invasive mitral surgeries already performed)
• One of the world’s leading centers for thoracoscopic aortic valve surgery.
• A reference center for the percutaneous management of aortic (TAVI), mitral (MitraClip, Tendyne) and tricuspid (TriClip, TTVR) valve disease.
• A reference center for the management of infective endocarditis.