Hans-Joachim Schäfers

Hans-Joachim Schäfers (born 1957) is a German surgeon, as well as cardiac, thoracic, and vascular surgeon and university professor. He is director of the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Saarland University Medical Center in Homburg/Saar, Germany. He is known for his activities in aortic valve repair, aortic surgery, and pulmonary endarterectomy.[1]

Hans-Joachim Schäfers
Born1957
NationalityGerman
Known foraortic valve repair, aortic surgery, and pulmonary endarterectomy
Scientific career
Fieldscardiac, thoracic, and vascular surgeon
InstitutionsSaarland University

Biography

Hans-Joachim Schäfers went to medical school from 1976 to 1982 at the University of Essen. He received his doctoral title in 1982 magna cum laude. After his military service he started his surgical training at the Hannover Medical School (Medizinische Hochschule Hannover). He added a 1-year clinical fellowship at the Toronto General Hospital, Department of Thoracic Surgery of the University of Toronto to study lung transplantation. In 1991 he was appointed staff surgeon in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Hannover Medical School. He achieved his habilitation in 1992.

In 1995, he assumed as interim director the leadership of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular at the Saarland University Medical Center in Homburg/Saar. In April 1996, he was formally appointed director of the department and Professor of Surgery.[2] He has assumed different obligations in academic committees, and he has initiated many research projects dealing with cardiac and thoracic surgical challenges. Apart from his wide surgical spectrum in cardiac and thoracic surgery his areas of core competence include operations for aortic aneurysms (especially thoracic aortic aneurysms), surgery for pulmonary hypertension, heart valve reconstruction, and in particular aortic valve reconstruction.[3]

Scientific contribution

The initial research activities of Hans-Joachim Schäfers focused on different clinical problems of heart and lung transplantation. During his fellowship at the University of Toronto (grant of the German Research Council) he investigated the problem of bronchial complications after lung transplantation.[4] Both in Hannover and Homburg he initiated important research projects to minimize bronchial complications and to minimize ischemia-reperfusion injury after lung transplantation. Later projects deal with special aspects of functional mitral regurgitation and aortic surgery.[5][6] Further research attempted to clarify the mechanisms of intestinal perfusion problems after cardiac surgery and the etiology of aortic aneurysms in the presence of congenital aortic valve malformations, in particular bicuspid aortic valves and unicuspid aortic valves.[7][8] He developed approaches to improve the concept of pulmonary endarterectomy for thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.[9] In the past 20 years he has focused on the development and improvement of techniques for aortic valve repair.[10][11][12][13][14][15] The concept has been adopted by other surgeons.[16][17][18]

Publications
  • Hans-Joachim Schäfers: Current treatment of aortic regurgitation (UNI-MED Science) (English) (2013)
  • Hans-Joachim Schäfers (ed.): Klinische Grundlagen der Herz- und Thoraxchirurgie (2011)
  • Jürgen Haase, Hans-Joachim Schäfers, Horst Sievert, Ron Waksman (eds.): Cardiovascular Interventions in Clinical Practice (English) (2010)
  • Hans-Joachim Schäfers: Current Treatment of Mitral Regurgitation (English) (2010)

References
  1. Saarbrücker Zeitung. "Der Herzklappen-Retter". saarbruecker-zeitung.de.
  2. Deutscher Verlag für Gesundheitsinformation, Heidelberg, Germany. "Lebenslauf Prof. Dr. med. Schäfers in Homburg/Saar – Herzchirurg ..." leading-medicine-guide.de.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Saarbrücker Zeitung. "Herr Kawolus kriegt ein neues Leben". saarbruecker-zeitung.de.
  4. Schäfers HJ, Haydock DA, Cooper JD. The prevalence and management of bronchial anastomotic complications in lung transplantation. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1991; 101:1044-52
  5. Langer F, Kunihara T, Hell K, Schramm R, Schmidt KI, Aicher D, Kindermann M, Schäfers HJ. RING+STRING: Successful repair technique for ischemic mitral regurgitation with severe leaflet tethering. Circulation. 2009;120(11 Suppl):S85-91
  6. Schäfers HJ, Fries R, Langer F, Nikoloudakis N, Graeter T, Grundmann U. Valve preserving replacement of the ascending aorta – remodeling vs. reimplantation.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1998;116: 990-6
  7. Aicher D, Urbich C, Zeiher A, Dimmeler S, Schäfers HJ. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase in bicuspid aortic valve disease. Ann Thorac Surg. 2007; 83:1290-4
  8. Henn D, Perttunen H, Gauer S, Schmied W, Porras C, Such M, Schäfers HJ. GATA5 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression in the ascending aorta is related to aortic size and valve morphology. Ann Thorac Surg. 2014 Jun;97(6):2019-25
  9. Tscholl D, Langer F, Wendler O, Wilkens H, Georg G, Schäfers HJ. Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy – risk factors for early survival and hemodynamic improvement. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2001; 19: 771-6
  10. Ritzau. "Hospitaler strides om hjerteklap-operationer". DR.
  11. Aicher D, Schäfers HJ. Aortic valve repair--current status, indications, and outcomes. Semin Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2012 Autumn;24(3):195-201
  12. Schäfers HJ, Aicher D, Rodionycheva S, Lindinger A, Rädle-Hurst T, Langer F, Abdul-Khaliq H. Bicuspidization of the unicuspid aortic valve: a new reconstructive approach. Ann Thorac Surg. 2008; 85:2012-8
  13. Schäfers HJ. How pathologic is the function of a bicuspid aortic valve? J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2015 Jul;150(1):68-9
  14. Langer F, Aicher D, Kissinger A, Wendler O, Lausberg H, Fries R, Schäfers HJ. Aortic valve repair using a differentiated surgical strategy. Circulation 2004, 110:II67-II73
  15. Schäfers HJ, Langer F, Glombitza P, Kunihara T, Fries R, Aicher D. Aortic valve reconstruction in myxomatous degeneration of aortic valves: are fenestrations a risk factor for repair failure? J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2010;139:660-4
  16. Lansac E, Bouchot O, Arnaud Crozat E, Hacini R, Doguet F, Demaria R, Leguerrier A, Jouan J, Chatel D, Lopez S, Folliguet T, Acar C, Leprince P, Langanay T, Jegaden O, Bessou JP, Albat B, Latremouille C, Fabiani JN, Fayad G, Fleury JP, Pasquet B, Debauchez M, Di Centa I, Tubach F. Standardized approach to valve repair using an expansible aortic ring versus mechanical Bentall: early outcomes of the CAVIAAR multicentric prospective cohort study. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2015 Feb;149(2 Suppl):S37-45. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2014.07.105. Epub 2014 Aug 12. PubMed PMID 25240525.
  17. Lansac E, Di Centa I, Sleilaty G, Crozat EA, Bouchot O, Hacini R, Blin D, Doguet F, Bessou JP, Albat B, De Maria R, Villemot JP, Portocarrero E, Acar C, Chatel D, Lopez S, Folliguet T, Debauchez M. An aortic ring: from physiologic reconstruction of the root to a standardized approach for aortic valve repair. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2010 Dec;140(6 Suppl):S28-35; discussion S45-51. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2010.08.004. PubMed PMID 21092793.
  18. Miyahara S, Matsueda T, Izawa N, Yamanaka K, Sakamoto T, Nomura Y, Morimoto N, Inoue T, Matsumori M, Okada K, Okita Y. Mid-Term Results of Valve-Sparing Aortic Root Replacement in Patients With Expanded Indications. Ann Thorac Surg. 2015 Sep;100(3):845-52. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2014.09.091. Epub 2015 Jun 19. PubMed PMID 26095104
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