Mr Christopher Young is a consultant cardiovascular surgeon of considerable standing, having undertaken over 10,000 heart operations. Mr Young recently left his long-standing consultancy at St Thomas’ Hospital, where he was one of only two surgeons to conduct TAVI procedures, to focus on his private patients. He is now the senior clinical lead for cardiovascular services across all HCA UK facilities and continues to carry out clinical work at London Bridge Hospital.

Mr Young’s specialist interest is in the aortic valve, including all aspects of aortic valve surgery. He has a particular interest in cardiac keyhole surgery, having used these techniques for nearly 25 years, including:

• Keyhole bypass surgery (MIDCAB)
• Keyhole aortic and mitral valve surgery
• Keyhole aortic aneurysm surgery
• Keyhole heart rhythm surgery (in selected cases)

Mr Young now uses keyhole approaches in all valve operations, as well as in over 80% of aneurysm cases. This is in marked contrast to the rest of the UK, where less than 15% of aortic valve surgery is keyhole.

Mr Young has also built a reputation as an outstanding trainer, having trained over 400 clinicians in the last decade. He lectures internationally, has undertaken live surgical training cases and mentors younger surgeons to help improve their competency and confidence in keyhole approaches.

He continues to feel enormous enthusiasm for keyhole cardiac approaches, highlighting its significant benefits, reduced impact and rapid recovery for patients. He says: “we can do so much through keyhole incisions. The reduced surgical impact is highly significant for patients, allowing them to bounce back and regain their health and mobility much more quickly”.