Dr. Rodrigo Calixto

Dr. Rodrigo Calixto is a senior cardiac surgeon at the Instituto do Coração (InCor) — Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP). InCor is Latin America's largest and most prestigious cardiovascular centre, performing more than 5,000 cardiac surgeries annually and running one of the busiest cardiac transplant programmes in the Southern Hemisphere. Working at this institution has placed Dr. Calixto at the forefront of cardiac surgery in Brazil and across Latin America.

With more than 22 years of experience in cardiac surgery, Dr. Calixto has accumulated extensive expertise in the full spectrum of open-heart procedures, with a particular focus on cardiac transplantation and advanced heart failure surgery. He has been part of InCor's transplant team during a period of significant growth in the programme, contributing to refinements in donor heart selection, perioperative management, and long-term immunosuppression protocols.

Dr. Calixto is equally proficient in coronary revascularisation surgery, having performed thousands of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures including off-pump techniques. His valvular surgery practice includes both repair and replacement of the mitral and aortic valves, with a preference for valve-sparing and repair techniques wherever anatomically feasible.

At InCor, Dr. Calixto participates in a multidisciplinary heart failure team that includes cardiologists, heart failure specialists, and mechanical circulatory support experts. This team approach ensures that patients with end-stage heart failure are systematically evaluated for transplantation or ventricular assist device (VAD) therapy, with surgical and medical strategies closely coordinated.

Dr. Calixto earned his MD from the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP) — widely considered Brazil's most rigorous medical school. He completed his General Surgery residency and Cardiovascular Surgery specialisation at Hospital das Clínicas FMUSP, training in an environment with one of the highest volumes of complex cardiac cases in South America.

He pursued advanced fellowship training in cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at a leading North American cardiac centre, gaining experience with state-of-the-art ventricular assist devices and contemporary immunosuppression strategies. Upon returning to Brazil, he joined the InCor surgical faculty and subsequently completed his PhD in Cardiovascular Surgery from USP, with his research focused on outcomes optimisation in cardiac transplantation. Dr. Calixto holds specialist certification from the Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery (SBCCV) and is an active member of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT).

Dr. Calixto's surgical practice is centred on three core areas: cardiac transplantation, coronary artery surgery, and valvular heart surgery. In transplantation, he manages all phases of the surgical pathway — from donor heart procurement and preservation to orthotopic transplantation and post-operative care in the cardiac intensive care unit.

His coronary surgery experience encompasses on-pump and off-pump (beating-heart) CABG, including the use of bilateral internal mammary arteries for improved long-term graft patency. In valvular surgery, he performs mitral valve repair using ring annuloplasty and leaflet reconstruction techniques, as well as aortic valve replacement and, where appropriate, aortic valve-sparing root reconstruction.

For patients not yet at transplant eligibility or awaiting a suitable donor, Dr. Calixto has expertise in the surgical implantation of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as a bridge to transplantation or, in selected cases, as destination therapy. He also manages post-infarction mechanical complications such as ventricular septal defect repair and left ventricular aneurysm resection.

Dr. Calixto's research has been oriented towards improving outcomes in cardiac transplantation, including donor heart viability assessment, intraoperative myocardial protection strategies, and long-term allograft vasculopathy surveillance. His PhD thesis examined predictors of primary graft dysfunction following orthotopic cardiac transplantation in a large single-centre Brazilian cohort, with findings that have informed InCor's current surgical and perfusion protocols.

He has co-authored publications in Brazilian and international cardiovascular journals and regularly presents his clinical outcomes data at meetings of the ISHLT and the Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery. His current research interests include expanding the donor pool through marginal donor protocols and exploring ex-vivo heart perfusion technology for extending acceptable ischaemic times.

Dr. Calixto consults in Portuguese and English, and InCor at Hospital das Clínicas FMUSP has an established international patient referral pathway. International patients with advanced heart failure, complex coronary disease, or valvular pathology requiring surgical evaluation can arrange consultations with Dr. Calixto's team.

For cardiac transplant candidates from abroad, InCor's transplant programme operates within Brazil's national organ allocation system (SNCR), and international patients considering transplant evaluation should discuss residency and logistical requirements with the hospital's international services team. Pre-consultation video appointments are available to review cardiac imaging, catheterisation data, and echocardiographic reports, allowing a preliminary surgical assessment before travel to São Paulo.

Dr. Calixto holds specialist certification from the Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery (SBCCV) and is board-recognised as a cardiovascular surgeon by the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine (CFM). He is a member of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Within InCor, he is recognised for his contributions to the transplant programme's outcomes quality and for his role in training the next generation of Brazilian cardiovascular surgeons through InCor's academic residency programme.