Dr Pierluigi Costanzo

Dr Pierluigi Costanzo is an experienced consultant cardiologist practicing in Cambridge and he is the Clinical Lead for Coronary Intervention at Royal Papworth Hospital.

He has a large experience in dealing with common heart-related issues (angina or chest tightness, shortness of breath, palpitations, dizzy spells, blackouts). He also undertakes a broad range of key-hole heart interventions, including coronary (heart arteries) angioplasty and stent to relieve angina and provide improved blood flow to the heart muscle. He is a leading cardiologist also in key-hole treatments of heart valve problems (particularly for the aortic valve, for which he performs “TAVI” procedures to replace damaged aortic valves).

Before starting his consultant post at Royal Papworth Hospital, he spent one year at Toronto General Hospital (Canada) to train in complex coronary intervention, having been awarded the competitive British Cardiovascular Intervention Society training grant. Following that, he was appointed as a structural (heart valves and structure) interventional fellow for one year at St Michael’s Hospital (Toronto, Canada). During this time he trained in TAVI and other structural procedures, having also the opportunity to participate in several pioneering heart valve procedures.

He graduated with first-class honour and academic distinction from medical school in Italy and then moved to England where he undertook training in general internal medicine, cardiology, and interventional cardiology in East Yorkshire, mainly working at Castle Hill Hospital (Cottingham). During this time he also obtained a Master of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Medicine (MD) research degrees from the University of York, focusing on the prevention of cardiovascular events, particularly in diabetic patients. He published several high-impact research articles and won multiple investigator awards at the European Society of Cardiology and American College of Cardiology conferences.

Alongside his clinical work, he holds senior positions being the audit lead for all the key-hole (percutaneous) interventions performed at Royal Papworth Hospital. He also leads the regional teaching for the new generation of cardiologists undertaking training in angioplasty, stents, and valve interventions. He leads the research for the TAVI procedures held at Royal Papworth Hospital aimed at making this procedure as safe and effective as possible, sharing the results with the national and the international medical community. He holds an editorial position for Interventional Cardiology Review, which is a scientific journal keeping the community of specialist cardiologists up to date with the most state-of-the-art cardiac interventions.

Finally, he is a proud member of several national and international societies (i.e. British Cardiovascular Society, Canadian Cardiovascular Society, British Cardiovascular Interventional Society, European Society of Cardiology, and others).