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II Level Master Programme - Percutaneous interventional treatment of structural heart diseases, Academic Year 2019/2020

  • Venue
    Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna – Pisa, Italy
  • Deadline for application submission 04.02.2020
  • Maximum Number of Participants 15
  • Tuition fees 4.500,00 EUR
  • CFU Credits 60
  • Training hours 750

Duration: from January 2022 to July 2023 


Course description

The Institute of Life Sciences of Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, in Pisa, Italy, according to the article 3 of the School’s Statute, in partnership with the Fondazione Toscana G. Monasterio - Regione Toscana-CNR, will be offering the 4th edition of the II level Master course “Percutaneous interventional treatment of structural heart diseases” Academic Year 2019/2020.

The Course’s venue will be the main campus of Sant’Anna School; practical activities will be held in the headquarters of Fondazione G. Monasterio in Massa and Pisa, and in other sites.

The Master will begin in April 2020 and end in September 2021.

Language of instruction will be English.


Training objectives

The general objective of the Master is to provide the cardiologist and the cardiac surgeon theoretical and practical skills for an innovative and modern therapeutic approach to the patient suffering from structural heart disease (i.e. non-coronary). Specifically, the Master aims to: 1) provide the diagnostic bases and clinical criteria that allow the identification of the population of patients susceptible to percutaneous and / or hybrid approaches; 2) to illustrate the panorama of imaging techniques, their interpretative bases and their use in the diagnostic-therapeutic process; 3) analyze the pre-, intra and post-operative medical aspects (role of the clinical and interventional cardiologist, radiologist, anesthesiologist, cardiac surgeon); 4) to illustrate both the novelties of structural interventional techniques both in theory and in practice; 5) provide the elements of health economics and resource management with a focus on the socio-economic impact of innovative approaches in medicine.


Course programme

The Master Programme is structured in the following main areas:

  • Clinical Cardiology and Anesthesiology, to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge aimed at pre-operative evaluation of patient candidate to percutaneous structural interventions, to patient management, to risk evaluation, to evaluation of pathologies requiring non-conventional approaches, to cardioanesthesia;
  • Imaging, to acquire the interpretative basis of main imaging techniques in order to optimize preoperative planning
  • Percutaneous Interventions, to develop deep knowledge and skill in the use and application of percutaneous and hybrid therapies for structural heart diseases
  • Health management, concerning the analysis of the economic, social and cost-benefits aspect of the new techniques;

Teaching methods

The syllabus of the Master Programme, in addition to individual studying and the preparation of a final project work, will cover 750 hours distributed over a period of 18 months and divided as follows:

  • no. 170 hours of lectures and seminars in classroom
  • no. 240 hours of e-learning
  • no. 40 hours of workshop that can be attended abroad
  • no. 300 hours of practical internship held in one or more of the following training sites: 1. Cardiothoracic Department of the Fondazione G. Monasterio, Regione Toscana-CNR Massa, Italy, 2. Cardiothoracic and Vascular Department of the University of Pisa, Italy, 3. Structural Interventional Cardiology, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy. Other available sites will be communicated during the Master course.

How to apply

Applications for the Master Course can be made by European and Non-European citizens, who possess a University Degree in Medicine (or an equivalent qualification) and a Specialization in Cardiology or Cardiac Surgery or related disciplines (or an equivalent qualification). Other University Degree qualifications could be accepted under the Evaluation Committee assessment.

Students who are enrolled in University Specialization programs and expect to gain the Specialization Degree within the beginning of the Master are also eligible.

The candidates shall have a good knowledge of English language.


Course fee

Master tuition fee has been fixed to € 4.500,00 and includes participation to all the teaching activities as well as teaching material, lunches during the lecture weeks at the Sant’Anna School in Pisa, access to the e-learning platform, tutoring and assistance in preparing the project work, tax stamp of € 16,00 for the Diploma.


Attendance certificate

At the end of the Master Programme, the Institution issues a second-level University Master’s Diploma, pursuant to art. 3 of Ministerial Decree No. 270/2004, as subsequently amended, to students who attended the entire training syllabus regularly and successfully, in accordance with the requirements envisaged in the Disciplinary Regulations and who are up-to-date with the payment of the enrolment fee.