MILAN (ITALPRESS) – On January 14, 2026, the Emodynamic Cardiology of the Hospital San Carlo Borromeo in Milan marked a historic stage in the International Cardiology. On an ultra-octane patient with atrial fibrillation, a mini-invasive heart surgery has been successfully performed before: the percutane closure of the left earpiece in a heart already undergone, years before, surgical closure with clip. The intervention was necessary because the patient, suffering from athletic fibrillation, could no longer take anticoagulant drugs (essential therapy to prevent stroke) due to severe hemorrhagic episodes.
The only possible therapeutic alternative was the closure of the left earpiece by percutaneous way, i.e. mini-invasive, through a vein of the groin. This procedure is now well established and almost routinary in some centers of excellence, such as the Cardiology of San Carlo in Milan and the Cardiology of Syracuse. The latter represents, in particular, the center that in Italy performs the highest annual number of closing operations of the left earphone, thanks to the propulsive thrust of the intractive director of structure, Dr. Marco Contarini, recognized among the major international experts in this area.
However, the surgery performed at San Carlo in Milan was the fact that the left ear of the patient had already been treated in the past with a surgical clip and that, despite this, it had remained partially open, with the presence inside of a trombo, significantly increasing the risk of stroke already elevated for atrial fibrillation. Such a rare and delicate situation, which had never before been subjected to a percutane closure of the headset.
The initiative of Dr. Gabriele Franchina, interventionist cardiologist (hemodynamicist) of San Carlo di Milano, creator and promoter of the intervention, doctor of Sicilian origins, met that of Dr. Contarini, of which the aid was requested. A professional meeting that has ideally combined Milan and Sicily and has allowed to face an intervention of such magnitude and complexity – first and only in its kind – putting together two minds and four hands among the most experienced at international level in the percutane closure of the left earphone. The two interventionist cardiologists, along with a close team of doctors and nurses in the hall, successfully performed the surgery, implanting a prosthetic inside the earpiece.
In order to further increase the patient’s safety, the team also took advantage of a system of protection of carotids, by means of filters that could intercept any emboli, reducing the risk of intraoperative stroke potentially linked to the presence of the thrombo. It was therefore a combined, highly complex and completely unpublished intervention: percutane closure of the earpiece in an earpiece previously closed with surgical clip (absolute news worldwide) and positioning of protection filters of the carotids. The whole procedure had a duration of less than two hours and the patient, already in the afternoon, was awake and in good condition in his room of decency at the department of Cardiology.
The works were coordinated by Dr. Gabriele Franchina, creator and first emodynamic operator of the intervention, with the full support of the director of Cardiologia del San Carlo, Stefano Lucreziotti. For the occasion, Franchina took advantage of the collaboration of Marco Contarini, director of the Cardiology of Syracuse and one of the highest national and international experts in the closure of the left earphone. The rest of the team was composed by Guido Tassinario (ecocardiografista di sala), by Dr. Ruggero Vercelli (radiologist interventionist), by Dr. Marcello Ciancetti (anestesista) and by the nurses of the room of hemodynamic Max Benes, Matteo Marrone and Federica Baldiraghi.
A result that is not only a clinical success, but that opens up new therapeutic perspectives for patients so far considered “without alternatives”. The intervention identifies in the Hospital San Carlo Borromeo and in the figures of the doctors Franchina and Contarini authentic excellence of the international cardiology in the field of the prevention of the stroke and the closure of the left earphone, also demonstrating the strategic value of the collaboration between professionals. A collaboration that, on this occasion, has seen the axis Sicily-Lombardia produce a result of world reach, reason of pride also for Sicilian health.
– Photo Tranchina –
(ITALPRESS)
