Michael Argenziano



Michael Argenziano, MD is the director of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Cardiac Surgery and the Director of the Surgical Arrhythmia Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. He is also an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Argenziano has performed numerous robotic cardiac operations, some which have been first of their kind in U.S. history (TECAB 2002).

In addition to these historic firsts in robotic surgery, Dr. Argenziano was part of the surgical team to perform the first ever combined heart-liver transplant in the New York region on September 24, 2004 (Newsmaker 2004). In 2002, Dr. Argenziano was selected by Crain's New York Business weekly as one of the top 40 under 40 young professionals who have made an impact on New York's business industry (NYM 2002).

In 2007, Dr. Argenziano received a Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education Career Development Award from the American Association for Thoracic Surgery to fund his protocol "Remodeling of the TASK-1 potassium current in atrial fibrillation: A novel therapeutic target."

Notable Firsts in Robotic Surgery

 * On July 24, 2001, Dr. Michael Argenziano and Dr. Mehmet Oz performed the first robotically assisted repair of an atrial septal defect, without making a chest incision (ASD 2001).  This operation represented the first open-heart procedure in the U.S. to be completed with a totally closed chest (PR2 2006).  The procedure marked the beginning of an FDA-approved clinical trial involving 30 patients at Columbia (Rep 2001).  Dr. Argenziano, the principal investigator of the trial, found that the median postoperative hospital stay was three days and the patients had a more rapid return to their normal lives.  Based on these results, robotic atrial septal defect repair became an approved procedure by the Food and Drug Administration (ASD 2001).  The surgical robot used in such procedures, Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci Surgical System, has been approved by the FDA for other clinical trials in which NYP surgeons are participating (NYPH 2002).


 * On January 15, 2002, Dr. Michael Argenziano and Dr. Craig Smith were the first in the nation to perform a robotically assisted, totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass (TECAB) (PR1 2006). Until this operation, coronary artery bypass surgery required open-chest surgery, which involves an eight- to ten-inch incision made in the chest. Robot-Assisted Heart Surgery requires only three pencil-sized holes made between the ribs where two robotic arms are able to gain access to the heart (TECAB 2002).  This historic procedure initiated another FDA trial, and Dr. Argenziano, the principal investigator, found that once again TECAB patients experienced less postoperative pain and were able to resume their normal activities much sooner than traditional open-heart surgery patients (PR2 2006).  In July 2004, the Food and Drug Administration cleared the da Vinci Surgical System™ to be marketed to assist in coronary artery bypass surgery (FDA 2004).


 * Dr. Argenziano and his colleagues have helped modify the Maze procedure for atrial fibrillation by performing surgical fibrillation ablation (SAFA) (Index 1999). The Maze procedure involves a surgery that makes incisions in both atria so that scar tissue forms to interrupt the electrical impulses that cause abnormal heart rhythms (Index 1999).  SAFA instead uses a variety of energy sources, such as radiofrequencies, microwaves, or lasers, which leaves a limited number of scars in the left atrium (PR2 2006).  Under the leadership of Dr. Argenziano, Columbia surgeons have performed SAFA in over 500 patients, with a success rate (normal rhythm) at 6-12 months of 76% (PR2 2006). In addition to this, in 2003 the team developed a minimally invasive endoscopic version of SAFA, which uses a robot through a small puncture, and therefore prevents the need of cutting through the breastbone, or placing the patient on a heart-lung machine (Index 1999).


 * Dr. Argenziano and Columbia surgeons are also experts in robotic ventricular pacing, known as cardiac resynchronization therapy, which is useful for patients with end-stage cardiomyopathy and severe heart failure. The Columbia team has used a completely thorascopic approach to implant several left ventricular leads and biventricular pacing systems (PR2 2006).