IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli

The Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS is the place where scientific and technical skills, human sensitivity, ethics and Catholic values become a motivating commitment at the service of all, to guarantee excellent care that is accessible to the entire community.
The centrality of the patient as a person, the deployment of cutting-edge skills, technologies and know-how, the ability to respond to complex treatment needs through increasingly personalised (and therefore effective) responses are the hallmarks of the clinical and care activities deployed every day, 24 hours a day, by the Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS. This is the Policlinico Gemelli, a reality that confirms itself as a reference point at national level and – for an ever increasing number of disciplines and specialisations – an international excellence. With over 5,000 employees and daily relations with thousands of stakeholders, the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS is a nationally important company that operates in an economically sustainable manner in the complex context of healthcare.

Recognition as an Institute of Hospitalization and Treatment with Scientific Character (IRCCS) for the disciplines Personalised Medicine and Innovative Biotechnology, obtained at the beginning of 2018, confirms Gemelli’s commitment to clinical and scientific research. During 2017, the Foundation distinguished itself in prestigious university research areas, because it was obtained through competitive tenders. These are projects that refer to scientific areas such as oncology, which has always been one of the pillars of the Foundation’s research, metabolic diseases, chronic diseases, genetic and autoimmune diseases (Amyotrophic Muscular Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis and Myasthenia Gravis), infectious diseases and, last but not least, complex cardiovascular diseases.

In 2017, the number of admissions to the Institute for cardiovascular diseases was 5260 patients, while the number of outpatient visits was 43,250. An equal number of 20 cardiologists employed by the A. Gemelli University Polyclinic Foundation and talented basic researchers belonging to the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Cardiology are dedicated to clinical, basic and translational research at the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Sciences, directed by Professor Filippo Crea.

Leading projects in the cardiovascular field aim at the identification, validation and implementation of biomarkers for the early diagnosis, characterisation and monitoring of patients with ischaemic heart disease (acute and chronic) and heart failure in order to identify specific therapeutic targets.

The main cardiovascular research lines in which the Institute is engaged are as follows:

• Study of acute coronary syndromes and in particular identification of the role played by inflammation and the immune system (a subject in which our Institute is an international leader) and identification of possible new approaches to personalised medicine using omics techniques;
• Advanced intracoronary imaging applied to the study of computational fluid dynamics;
• Study of the role of coronary microcirculation in myocardial ischaemia (a subject in which our group is an international leader) and possible approaches to personalised medicine;
• Development of medical-surgical devices in the treatment of mitral and aortic valvulopathy in patients excluded for clinical and anatomical reasons from traditional surgery;
• New electroanatomical mapping technologies integrated with ultrasound and MRI imaging for the study of the arrhythmic substrate and its predictivity of sudden arrhythmic death in patients with myocarditis and in young athletes with ventricular arrhythmias.
• Definition of long-term predictors of morbidity (infection, decompensation) and mortality in defibrillator patients. Prognostic value of atrial fibrillation ablation in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure.
• Role of stem cells and their possible therapeutic use in patients with different forms of heart failure.
• Development of medical-surgical devices in the treatment of mitral and aortic valvulopathy in patients excluded for clinical and anatomical reasons from traditional surgery;
• New electroanatomical mapping technologies integrated with ultrasound and MRI imaging for the study of the arrhythmic substrate and its predictivity of sudden arrhythmic death in patients with myocarditis and in young athletes with ventricular arrhythmias.
• Definition of long-term predictors of morbidity (infection, decompensation) and mortality in defibrillator patients.
• Prognostic value of atrial fibrillation ablation in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure.
• Role of stem cells and their possible therapeutic use in patients with different forms of heart failure.