Markus Krane, MD

Markus Krane, MD, is a cardiac surgeon who covers the whole spectrum of cardiac surgery procedures. He is the director of the Yale Medicine Aortic Valve Reconstruction Program.

With more than 200 procedures, Dr. Krane is one of the world's most experienced cardiac surgeons in performing aortic valve neocuspidization (AVNeo) for aortic valve reconstruction using autologous pericardium (with tissue from the patient’s own body), which is a promising alternative to traditional surgical treatment for aortic valve diseases using artificial prothesis.

Besides aortic valve reconstruction, his main focus is on mitral and tricuspid valve repair using conventional and especially robotic-assisted minimally invasive techniques.

Dr. Krane became interested in cardiac surgery when he was a medical student observing an open heart procedure through a glass dome. “This was the first time I saw a heart in action, and I was so impressed by it that I never let go of this discipline,” he says. “In addition, during my more than 17 years in cardiac surgery, I learned that compared to other disciplines, heart surgery has an extremely high probability of success in treatment and a life-prolonging effect, despite the severity of the disease.”

Most patients are shocked to learn they need cardiac surgery, Dr. Krane says. In most cases, the surgery is unavoidable, but there is also an extremely high probability of success of surgical treatment of heart diseases as far as prolongation of life, freedom from symptoms, and improvement in quality of life, which can be helpful information in conversations with patients.

“I try to build up trust and a personal relationship with the patient in preoperative discussions,” Dr. Krane says. “This relationship of trust is mutual. On one hand, I have to trust that the patient really wants this procedure; on the other hand, the patient has to trust that I can perform the procedure safely. If we have this mutual trust, we can walk together safely through the operation itself and the postoperative phase together.”

An associate professor of cardiac surgery at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Markus has been a principal investigator or co-investigator in multiple studies that have contributed to a better understanding of the heart. His major cardiovascular basic science interests are in molecular mapping of the heart, cardiac development, and cardiac regeneration. His clinical-scientific focus is on retrospective as well as prospective outcome studies of surgical therapeutic procedures for structural heart disease.