Department of Cardiovascular Genetic Centre @ Policlinico San Donato
The Cardiovascular Genetic Center (CGC) is one of the most important units in Europe in the field of aortic genetic diseases and Founder member of the VASCERN (the European reference Network), located in Policlinico San Donato since 2019.
GCG has a variety of international collaborations and have developed a mobile app (Vascern App; android/IOs) in which is possible to detect the medical activities of all major Inherited vascular disease centers.
The CGC is dedicated to the clinical and genetic diagnosis and follow-up of the patients affected by inherited aortic and cardiac diseases affecting both paediatric and adult patients. Among these conditions we include both syndromic (Marfan syndrome, Vascular Ehelers-Danlos syndrome and Loeys-Dietz syndrome, Fabry, Beals, etc ...) and non-syndromic (Bicuspid aortic valve; Familial thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection as well as spontaneous dissection of arteries) diseases.
Familial screening is also part of our daily activities. Our Patients follow genetic and cardiovascular visits and multidisciplinar evaluations (vascular, ophtalmologic, endocrinologic, pneumologic, orthopedics, cardiac and vascular surgery, echographical and radiological diagnostics, MRI etc ...) are performed regularly. Every year about 1200 Patients are evaluated in our Centre (i.e. more than 8000 exams/visits) and more than 3000 Patients are in current follow-up with a trend of about 200 new Patients yearly.
Research is part of our mission and many scientific papers are edited yearly with our authorship. 25 research programs are ongoing by now and involver more than 30 researchers in 7 research groups in colaboration with our Center.
Our excellence in numbers
25
research programs ongoing in the field of genetic, vascular, cardiac
Conditions we take care of at this Department
Notable advanced technological equipment
- Last Generation of Eco Duplex Scan
Meet our team
Head physician
Alessandro Pini
The Policlinico San Donato Research Hospital is the largest and most renowned Italian center specialized in the field of cardiovascular treatments. The hospital is accredited by the Italian National Health Service (SSN) and is home to the Degree Course in Medicine and Surgery, in collaboration with the Università degli Studi di Milano.
Founded in 1969 and extending over 50,000 square meters in the south-eastern part of Milan, the multi-specialty healthcare institution is a leader in Italy and among best centers in Europe as for the amount as well as for the complexity of performed cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology procedures in children (>1,000 procedures per year) and adult patients (>1,000 surgical interventions and 6,000 interventional cardiology procedures). The San Donato’s Arrhythmology and Electrophysiology Unit delivers one of the highest numbers of cardiac ablations in the world (>1,400 per year). San Donato has a research center aimed at studying of the heart and blood vessels in adults and children and searching of new prevention and treatment methods that has been recognized by the Italian Ministry of Health as a Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Health Care (IRCCS).
San Donato is a pioneer of international cooperation and a founder of charity missions for the treatment of children with congenital heart diseases that are run in collaboration with the association “Bambini Cardiopatici nel Mondo”. Thanks to this project more than 3,000 children all over the world have received their treatment.
Since 2019, Policlinico San Donato has become home to the National Institute for Obesity Cure (INCO), a national reference center with a multidisciplinary approach for the diagnosis and treatment of obesity. Thanks to the INCO, dietary, psycho-behavioral and surgical treatments are carried out together with the most innovative video-assisted laparoscopic and mini-invasive techniques.
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