Prof Olaf  Wendler

After his cardiothoracic surgical training at the Medical School Hannover/Germany, Professor Wendler worked as staff surgeon at the Heart Center Leipzig/Germany. He later became deputy of the Cardiothoracic Department at the University Hospital Saarland/Germany, where he completed his PhD on complete arterial revascularisation. In 2004 Professor Wendler was appointed at Kings College Hospital, and held the position of clinical director for cardiovascular services from 2006 until 2012, when he was promoted Professor of Cardiac Surgery at Kings College London.

Professor Wendler has a particular interests in the treatment of heart valve disease and is sub-specialised in valve repair techniques including the aortic root, mitral and tricuspid valve. Due to his particular expertise in this area, Professor Wendler runs a service particularly specialised in the treatment of complex multiple heart valve surgery including patients with carcinoid disease. Through his close collaboration with the vascular surgical department and interventional radiology he has also established Kings College Hospital as one of the major centers for thoracic aortic surgery.

In 2007 Professor Wendler performed the first transapical Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) in the UK and has established Kings College Hospital as one of the major international centers for this innovative treatment. Over recent years the Kings Heart Team performed the first TAVI in a failing aortic bioprosthesis (2008), the first transcatheter valve implantation in a failing mitral bioprosthesis (2010) and the worlds first non-predilation transapical TAVI in 2011.

Most recent developments of the Kings Heart Team focus on patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and the treatment of patients with functional mitral regurgitation as a result of left ventricular dysfunction. The first minimal invasive surgery on a patient with a left ventricular aneurysm using the LIVE (Less Invasive Ventricular Enhancement) procedure was performed at Kings in 2013 and new minimally invasive treatment for mitral regurgitation is awaited soon.