The jury for the 2007 Recordati Prize Edition awarded the Prize to Professor Patrick Serruys for his outstanding achievements in the field of interventional cardiology and ischemic heart disease.
Prof. Serruys’ work has had a very strong impact in the clinical field. He has constantly promoted active clinical research in the field of percutaneous coronary interventions, and for years, has led the fight against the Achilles’ heel of PCI, namely restenosis. Over time, all the new techniques developed to tackle the problem of restenosis have been invented and/or tested most rigorously, with dozens of clinical trials in this area.
In the end, the advent of the drug-eluting stent (DES) made it possible to reduce to a minimum the risk of restenosis. Prof. Serruys and his team were leaders in the use of DES in man, and in the validation of this technique through appropriate clinical randomised trials. They have not only been involved in research in the area of PCI, but also many trials and registries aimed at demonstrating the relative efficacy of surgical revascularisation and multiple stent implantation in patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease. His trials in selected populations have confirmed that long-term outcome in patients with multi-vessel disease was equivalent with both techniques, but at the cost of more frequent intervention in patients submitted to PCI. This rate of PCI in patients is expected to be reduced in the future thanks to the use of DES in ongoing trials.
In summary, thanks to the innovative research and techniques developed, and the regular organisation of large-scale clinical randomised trials, Prof. Patrick Serruys has considerably contributed to the progress of knowledge in the field of coronary artery disease, with particular achievements in the fight against restenosis. His research has had a far-reaching impact on patient care worldwide, through the rationalisation of the indications for revascularisation in coronary artery disease patients.