Dr. Pablo Rodríguez Zanetti

Dr. Pablo Rodríguez Zanetti is a consultant interventional cardiologist at Fundación Favaloro in Buenos Aires — an institution that occupies a uniquely symbolic position in the history of cardiovascular medicine. Fundación Favaloro was founded by and named after Dr. René Favaloro, the pioneering Argentine cardiac surgeon who in 1967 performed the first successful coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) using the saphenous vein at the Cleveland Clinic — a procedure that transformed the treatment of coronary artery disease worldwide. Practising at this institution is both a privilege and a responsibility that Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti takes seriously, carrying forward a legacy of cardiac innovation that Argentina has bequeathed to global medicine.

Over two decades of clinical practice, Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti has specialised in the catheter-based treatment of coronary artery disease and structural heart disease. He is experienced in the full range of modern interventional cardiology techniques, from straightforward single-vessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to complex multi-vessel procedures and chronic total occlusion (CTO) revascularisation — among the most technically demanding procedures in the catheterisation laboratory.

Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti is also at the forefront of Fundación Favaloro's growing structural heart disease programme, performing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), percutaneous mitral valve repair using the MitraClip system, and left atrial appendage closure for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation patients. These catheter-based alternatives to open surgery are transforming care for elderly and high-risk patients who cannot safely undergo conventional cardiac surgery.

He works within Fundación Favaloro's multidisciplinary Heart Team — cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anaesthesiologists, and imaging specialists — to ensure that the optimal revascularisation or structural strategy is selected for each individual patient, in accordance with the latest international guidelines.

Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti completed his medical degree at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) — Argentina's flagship public university and home to one of Latin America's most respected faculties of medicine. He undertook his Internal Medicine and Cardiology residency training in Buenos Aires, rotating through high-volume cardiac units that provided substantial exposure to both acute coronary care and elective cardiology.

He subsequently completed a specialised fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at Fundación Favaloro, where he trained under senior interventionalists in a laboratory performing hundreds of coronary and structural procedures annually. To deepen his expertise in complex PCI and structural heart disease, he undertook additional training at a leading European centre, gaining proficiency in the TAVR and MitraClip techniques that were then emerging as standard-of-care procedures. He holds specialist certification from the Argentine Society of Cardiology (SAC) and from the Argentine Society of Interventional Cardiology (CACI), and is a member of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI).

Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti's procedural expertise is concentrated in two areas: coronary intervention and structural heart disease. In the coronary domain, he performs the full range of PCI procedures, including single and multivessel intervention, bifurcation stenting, rotational atherectomy for heavily calcified lesions, and CTO recanalisation using both antegrade and retrograde wire escalation techniques. He uses intracoronary imaging (IVUS and OCT) and physiology-guided assessment (FFR, iFR) to optimise procedural strategy and stent deployment.

In structural cardiology, he performs TAVR for severe aortic stenosis in both surgical-risk and low-risk patients, alongside percutaneous mitral valve repair for significant mitral regurgitation. He also performs left atrial appendage occlusion using the Watchman device for patients with atrial fibrillation who are unsuitable for long-term oral anticoagulation.

Beyond procedural work, Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti maintains a clinical cardiology practice that includes the non-invasive evaluation of cardiac disease, management of acute coronary syndromes in the coronary care unit, and long-term follow-up of patients after coronary intervention or structural procedures.

Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti's research contributions reflect Fundación Favaloro's tradition of blending clinical excellence with scientific inquiry. He has participated in multicentre clinical trials evaluating novel drug-eluting stents, CTO recanalisation techniques, and outcomes of TAVR in Argentine patient cohorts. His clinical publications have appeared in Argentine cardiology journals and have been presented at meetings of the Argentine Society of Cardiology and the Argentine Society of Interventional Cardiology.

His current research interests include optimising patient selection for CTO-PCI versus CABG in multivessel coronary disease, and comparing one-year outcomes of TAVR versus surgical aortic valve replacement in intermediate-risk Argentine patients. He is also involved in data collection for the Argentine national TAVR registry, contributing to locally generated evidence that informs clinical decision-making in a resource-constrained setting.

Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti conducts consultations in Spanish, English, and Italian, making him accessible to a wide range of international patients seeking cardiac care in Argentina. Fundación Favaloro has an established international patient programme and is well-known throughout Latin America and Europe as a centre of cardiac excellence.

International patients requiring coronary angiography, PCI, TAVR, or structural heart evaluations can arrange consultations with Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti's team. The foundation's international office assists with travel logistics, medical record translation, and coordination with referring cardiologists in the patient's home country. Pre-visit video consultations are available to review angiographic images, echocardiography reports, and CT scan data, enabling a provisional interventional strategy to be discussed before the patient travels to Buenos Aires.

Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti holds specialist certification from the Argentine Society of Cardiology (SAC) and from the Argentine Society of Interventional Cardiology (CACI). He is a member of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI). Within Fundación Favaloro, he is recognised for his contributions to the institution's structural heart disease programme and for his role in mentoring interventional cardiology fellows. The honour of practising at Fundación Favaloro — the institution founded by René Favaloro, whose coronary bypass graft procedure revolutionised cardiac surgery worldwide — is itself a testament to the high standards Dr. Rodríguez Zanetti maintains in his clinical and academic work.