Akinobu Itoh, MD

Dr. Itoh is a cardiac surgeon at the Division of Cardiac Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He specializes in surgical treatment of heart failure patients, such as end-stage cardiomyopathy, ischemic heart disease and valvular heart disease with low heart function patients. As the Director of Heart Transplantation, Dr. Itoh provides the best outcome in heart transplant in adult patient population who even had multiple previous heart surgeries. He is currently has clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Kent Hospital. Prevention and treatment in primary graft failure after heart transplant is his main research topic where he published multiple manuscripts and achieved national recognition as one of the leaders in heart transplant surgery.

He also leads the Brigham group as the director of Mechanical Circulatory Support in cardiac surgery. With a tremendous amount of experience and deep understanding in durable ventricular assist device (LVAD) implant, Extra-corporeal membrane Oxygen (ECMO) support, Dr. Itoh provides the most efficient and ambulatory way of device implant. Micro-axial pump (Impella 5.5) is effectively utilized for patients with low heart function in the context of complicated valve replacement/repair and coronary artery bypass surgery.

Besides his heart failure surgery, Dr. Itoh is specialized in coronary artery revascularization (coronary artery bypass grafting) using arterial grafts, such as left and right internal thoracic arteries and radial arteries. Skeletonized harvesting of internal thoracic arteries and endoscopic radial artery harvest provides minimal incision in the forearm yet provides superb long-term outcomes in CABG surgery. His multi-arterial graft utilization for CABG was over 80% at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2022 while national average is less than 30%. CABG surgery without using heart lung machine (OFF PUMP CABG) is also his unique skill set which is not provided by many other surgeons.

Another aspect of his clinical interest is the minimally invasive surgical approach. Mini-thoracotomy valve surgery is applied to appropriate patients and conditions. Mitral, tricuspid and aortic valve surgery through the right thoracotomy is one of his major interests to provide the same high-quality care even through the minimally invasive approach. For those who need standard sternal approach, he offers sternal fixation using titanium plates which enhances solid fixation of the sternum to minimize micro-movements of the sternum and mitigates post operative pain.

Heart reconstruction surgery for patients who had previous valve replacements and/or valve infections (endocarditis) using animal derived of homograft (cadaver valves) features of his profession with his deep anatomical understanding as the heart transplant surgeon. With his rich experiences in complex re-operations after multiple previous heart surgeries, he takes care of very complicated patients with a great surgical outcome.

Graduated from Tohoku University School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan, Dr. Itoh pursuit cardiovascular surgical training in the high-volume medical centers in Tokyo and Osaka. After 3 years of research experience at Stanford University, he further acquired a few years of advanced clinical fellowship in Toronto, Ontario. After 10 years of abundant experience in heart failure and high-risk surgical experience at Barnes and Jewish Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Itoh was recruited to Brigham in 2021 to develop surgical education and continue a contribution of the clinical and translational research in the heart failure field. Dr. Itoh’s primary research involves prevention and treatment in primary graft failure after heart transplant. He has authored and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed scientific papers and presented works at many national and international conferences. He is currently developing surgical education and clinical/basic research program at Brigham seeking public and private funding opportunities.