MBBS · MS · M.Ch. (CVTS) · DNB
Dr. Richard Saldanha
Director — Adult Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery
MIOT International, Chennai
Four decades at the operating table. More than ten thousand cardiac operations.
A life in surgery
Richard Saldanha entered cardiothoracic surgery in 1983 under the mentorship of Dr. K. M. Cherian, took his M.Ch. at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, under Dr. Stanley John and Dr. P. S. Jairaj, and trained at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney — then Australia’s leading centre for coronary bypass surgery and heart transplantation, and the unit of the pioneering transplant surgeon Victor Chang, with whom he published his earliest research.
What followed was a career spent building programmes as much as performing operations: restarting cardiac surgery at St John’s Medical College Hospital, his alma mater; sixteen years at Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, Chennai, with pioneering work alongside Dr. K. R. Balakrishnan in heart transplantation, ventricular assist devices and beating-heart bypass; and, at KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital, Belagavi, a heart transplant programme and an ECMO programme built from the ground up. In July 2024 he joined MIOT International, Chennai, as Director of Adult Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery.
Of his seven thousand coronary bypass operations, 85 per cent are performed off-pump — on the beating heart.
Operating on the beating heart, without the heart–lung machine, can mean fewer complications and a smoother recovery for many patients.
Fields of practice
In plain terms: if your cardiologist has recommended bypass surgery, that operation — coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) — is the one Dr. Saldanha has performed most, over 7,000 times. He also treats disease of the heart valves and the aorta, performs heart transplants, and operates on the chest and lungs.
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Coronary artery surgery
More than 7,000 bypass operations, the great majority now performed off-pump on the beating heart (OPCAB), including total arterial revascularisation.
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Heart transplantation & mechanical support
Pioneering transplant and ventricular-assist-device work at Sri Ramachandra; founder of the heart transplant and ECMO programmes at KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital, Belagavi.
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Valve repair & replacement
The full range of valve surgery, including aortic valve neocuspidization — the Ozaki procedure — introduced to his unit after mentorship in the technique.
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Aortic surgery
Surgery of the thoracic aorta: aneurysm, dissection and complex reconstruction.
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Congenital & paediatric cardiac surgery
Complex congenital repair in units serving as tertiary referral centres for both paediatric and adult disease.
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Thoracic surgery
An accomplished general thoracic surgeon, performing the full spectrum of thoracic operations and founding thoracic programmes at two institutions.
Milestones
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1980–88
Training
M.B.B.S., St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore; M.S. (General Surgery), Command Hospital (Air Force), Bangalore; M.Ch. and DNB in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, Christian Medical College, Vellore; Overseas Fellow at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.
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1988–96
Madras Medical Mission · GKNM Hospital · St. John’s
Helped establish GKNM’s coronary and thoracic programmes; restarted the cardiac surgical service at St. John’s, his alma mater.
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1996–2012
Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, Chennai
Professor, then Professor & Head of CVTS. Pioneering work in heart transplantation, ventricular assist devices and beating-heart bypass; founded the thoracic surgery and M.Ch. training programmes.
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2012–16
Nawaloka Hospital, Colombo
Senior Consultant, Cardiothoracic Surgery.
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2016–24
KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital, Belagavi
Chief Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Founded the hospital’s heart transplant programme — first transplant 2018, thirteen to date — and its ECMO programme; introduced the Ozaki procedure.
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2024
MIOT International, Chennai
Director, Adult Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery.
Scholarship & teaching
Forty-four peer-reviewed publications across four decades — from early coronary and transplant research at St Vincent’s, Sydney, to contemporary work on valve neocuspidization and novel annuloplasty devices.
Selected publications
- 1988 Myocardial revascularisation in patients over 75 years. The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery.
- 1989 Homograft aortic root replacement to correct infective endocarditis requiring seven open cardiac procedures. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
- 1997 Warm cardioplegia in cardiac transplantation. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
- 2022 Extracardiac basal annuloplasty for the treatment of secondary mitral regurgitation. EuroIntervention.
- 2025 Early outcomes of aortic valve neocuspidization (the Ozaki procedure): initial experience of a single centre. Indian Heart Journal.
Indexed publications: PubMed →