Mr Toufan Bahrami

Clinical expertise

Mr Toufan Bahrami is nationally and internationally recognised in minimally invasive, endoscopic (keyhole) cardiac surgery including mitral valve repair and aortic valve replacement. He has completed between 3,000 and 4,000 surgical procedures on the heart.

Mr Bahrami’s expertise in cardiac and endoscopic surgery includes:

• mitral valve repair – Mr Bahrami trained and worked in France with Professor Alain Carpentier who pioneered the technique
• minimally invasive endoscopic mitral valve repair
• minimally invasive endoscopic coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) – MIDCAB
• endoscopic atraumatic coronary artery bypass – EndoACAB
• endoscopic vein harvesting
• endoscopic surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation
• minimally invasive aortic valve replacement (sutureless valve and Resilia valve)

Mr Bahrami gives all his patients a personalised approach to care. His multidisciplinary team evaluates every patient to first determine whether they need surgery and then appropriate guideline therapy and timing of intervention will be applied.

Mr Bahrami is at the forefront of developments in endoscopic minimally invasive heart surgery. Instead of conventional surgery, heart valves are replaced or repaired by gaining access to the heart through a small incision between the ribs. For this, he uses a thoracoscope to view the chest cavity and to guide his movements.

In addition, Mr Bahrami performs coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) through a mini-incision on the side of the chest while the heart is beating (called off-pump CABG) rather than using a heart bypass machine.

These procedures offer the benefits of conventional open-heart surgery but with less traumatic injury (a smaller incision), a shorter stay in the hospital, a smaller and more aesthetic scar, and a much quicker recovery time.

Mr Bahrami has been the forerunner in utilising innovative surgical techniques, including:

• in 2007, he performed the first double-lung transplant from a non-heart-beating donor
• in 2007, he performed the UK’s first endoscopic vein harvesting surgery
• in 2014, he performed the first sutureless aortic valve replacement through a minimally invasive mini-thoracotomy
• in 2016, he implanted the first Inspiris Resilia aortic valve using a minimally invasive technique
• in 2017, he performed the first worldwide mitral valve repair, valve repair ablation and CABG using a minimally invasive technique

Biography

Mr Toufan Bahrami is a consultant cardiac surgeon who treats patients at Harefield Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital and Wimpole Street Consulting Rooms and Diagnostic Centre.

He trained and qualified at Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital in Paris, France.

In France and the UK, he trained and worked with three pioneers in cardiac surgery: Professor Alain Carpentier (who pioneered the technique of mitral valve repair surgery as well as artificial (biological) valves), Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub (who pioneered aortic valve surgery, homograft, stentless valve, and heart and lung transplantation) and Professor Alain Cabrol (who did the first heart transplantation in Europe).

Mr Bahrami previously worked as a consultant at Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust, St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the London Chest Hospital.

He has been at Harefield Hospital since 2001. He leads the minimally invasive and endoscopic cardiac surgery service, including mitral valve repair surgery.

Alongside this, he is an honorary consultant at 4 other NHS hospitals:

• Wycombe General Hospital, Buckinghamshire
• St. Peter’s Hospital, Surrey
• Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, Bedfordshire
• Epsom Hospital, Surrey

Publications

Mr Toufan Bahrami has published research papers on valve repair (mitral and tricuspid) and transplantation in peer-reviewed journals including the European Journal for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, the Annals of Thoracic Surgery and the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Teaching

Mr Toufan Bahrami has a strong clinical research programme with the development of new technology in cardiac surgery including 3D endoscopy in cardiac surgery and robotic-assisted heart surgery. He is participating in three multi-centric national trials in mitral valve surgery, TAVI and minimally access aortic valve. He organises regular courses in Geneva for consultants for minimally invasive aortic valve surgery and sutureless aortic valve surgery.