PD Dr. med. Axel Unbehaun

Ärztlicher Leiter SHIP (Structural Heart Interventions Program) Oberarzt Herzchirurgie
Axel Unbehaun is a senior consultant in cardiac surgery at the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité (DHZC), Germany. He serves as Medical Director of the institutional Structural Heart Interventions Program (SHIP).
Since 2008, he has been continuously involved in establishing and advancing the local Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation program with more than 10,000 TAVI/R procedures to date. Beside his interest in interventional cardiac surgery, he has extensive experience in comprehensive imaging-based strategy planning for transcatheter and hybrid procedures. Axel Unbehaun performs all types of transcatheter heart valve interventions with all access types as first operator. His scientific interest is focused on device landing zone complications and protective modifications, innovations, methodological limitations, predictors of long-term outcome, and application of transcatheter procedures under critical circumstances. He serves as an international physician proctor for all types of heart valve interventions.
As a medical student, Axel Unbehaun obtained the Young Investigator Award at the International Congress on Electrocardiology. He received the Doctor of Medicine degree from Charité Berlin in 2000 with a thesis in physiology on linear and nonlinear dynamics in cardiac control. Afterwards, he underwent an intensive training program in cardiac surgery at the German Heart Center Berlin. In 2016, he received the degree “Privatdozent” from Charité Berlin in cardiac surgery with a habilitation thesis entitled “Transcatheter aortic valve implantation: Strategies for excellent initial and long-term results”. He is the author or co-author of more than 140 publications, most of them focused on transcatheter heart valve therapies.
bis 2000
Studium der Humanmedizin an der Charité, Humboldt-Universität Berlin
Praktisches Jahr an der Louisiana State University, School of Medicine, New Orleans, USA
Forschung am Institut für Physiologie der Charité Berlin zum Thema „Lineare und nichtlineare Dynamik der Herz-Kreislaufregulation“; Young Investigator Award, 1. Preis, XXIV. International Congress on Electrocardiology
Abschluss der Promotion (summa cum laude)
2002
Approbation
2005 – 2011
Chirurgische Ausbildung an der Klinik für Herz-, Thorax- und Gefäßchirurgie am Deutschen Herzzentrum Berlin; Facharzt für Herzchirurgie
ab 2008
Aufbau und kontinuierliche Mitarbeit am Programm für kathetergestützte Herzklappeneingriffe am Deutschen Herzzentrum Berlin
Initiierung, aktive Teilnahme und Beteiligung an institutionellen und multizentrischen internationalen Studien auf dem Gebiet der Transkatheter-Therapien für Herzklappenerkrankungen
Spezialisierung für interventionelle Herzchirurgie
2011
Facharzt für Herzchirurgie
seit 2013
DZHK-Wissenschaftler im Deutschen Zentrum für Herz-Kreislauf-Forschung
2016
Lehrbefähigung / Lehrbefugnis an der Charité mit Habilitationsschrift: „Die kathetergestützte Aortenklappenimplantation: Strategien vom optimalen Initalergebnis zum exzellenten Langzeitresultat“
seit 2017
Oberarzt der Klinik für Herz-, Thorax- und Gefäßchirurgie am Deutschen Herzzentrum Berlin
2021-2024
Leitungsgremium der interdisziplinären TVU / Transcatheter Valve Unit am Deutschen Herzzentrum (der Charité)
seit 2024
Ärztlicher Leiter (Herzchirurgie) SHIP / Structural Heart Interventions Program am Deutschen Herzzentrum der Charité
Key research areas
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI/R):
new technologies, prognostic factors, simulation tools, TAVI/R vs. SAVR
Transcatheter Mitral Valve Implantation and Repair (TMVI/R):
outcome, (left ventricular) LV-remodelling, prognostic factors
Structural Heart Interventions (SHI) in heart transplant recipients and patients under mechanical circulatory support (MCS)
Transcatheter Repair and orthotopic and heterotopic Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Implantation (TTVI/R): development of strategies to prevent right heart failure