ABOUT SAJJA

About Sajja Heart Foundation

Sajja Heart Foundation is established by Dr. Lokeswara Rao Sajja who hails from Jandrapet Village of Chirala Mandal in Andhra Pradesh, India. He did his basic medical education at Guntur Medical College and went on to do his super-specialization in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He obtained extensive advanced training under world-renowned Cardiac Surgeon, Prof. Denton Cooley at the Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.

Dr. Sajja participated in 21,000 open heart operations, including around 15,000 Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgeries, Dr. Sajja has made significant contributions to healthcare. Notably, he has performed approximately 4,500 CABG surgeries under the Arogyasree Scheme, a State-sponsored health initiative. Dr. Sajja was elected as an Active Member in the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) for his proven record of distinction within the international cardiothoracic surgical field and meritorious contributions to the extant knowledge base about the cardiothoracic disease and its surgical treatment (he is the fourth and youngest Cardiac Surgeon to reach this milestone from India since its inception in the year 1917 and the first from Andhra Pradesh).

He is the first and only surgeon from India who has also presented a paper at the Annual Meeting of Prestigious AATS so far. He is also a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (USA), European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, Fellow of American College of Surgeons, and Indian Association of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons. He has presented papers of original research at all the prestigious international meetings like AATS, STS, EACTS, ASCVS, etc. He is also a keen researcher and prolific in publishing more than 50 original articles in peer-reviewed international journals.

He is a guest reviewer for the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals, Cardiology, Indian Heart Journals, IJTCVS, and has reviewed over 160 manuscripts. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals. He currently serves as an Assistant Editor, Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Section Editor for Cardiothoracic Surgery of Indian Heart Journal. For his contributions in the field of Medicine, he was conferred A.P. Scientist Award for the year 2007.

His commitment to customized research in cardiovascular diseases to suit the needs of the Indian population prompted him to start the “Sajja Heart Foundation” which enables him to do clinical and basic science research in cardiovascular diseases.

* Introduction of New Heart Surgery

*He is the Founder-President of the Society of Coronary Surgeons, which was inaugurated virtually by His Excellency Honorable Vice-President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu Ji in December 2020.

* He is elected as the Junior Vice-President of IACTS during the 67th Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS) held between 26 and 28th Feb 2021. He shall be installed as the President of IACTS in 2023.

* Promote Patency Trial; the first multi-centric Randomized Controlled trial conducted in Cardiac Surgery in India by seven Cardiac Surgeons under the leadership of Dr. Lokeswara Rao Sajja was published in the Indian Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery was selected for the Best Original Article 2020 award during the 67th Annual Conference of IACTS.

* Dr. Sajja is one of the Authors of a paper published from the Arterial Revascularization Trial, one of the largest and longest followed-up multi-national RCT in Cardiac Surgery, -Ten-year outcomes after off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: Insights from the Arterial Revascularization Trial, was published in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery-2020.

* He Presented contemporary trends in coronary artery surgery in India at the old Congress on cardia sciences in 2018

* The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American for Thoracic Surgery at SanDiego in April-2008

* PROMOTE Patency- Prospective Randomized comparison of Off-pump and On-pump Multivessel cOronary artery bypass surgery To Evaluate outcomes and graft patency. The study was conducted at 6 centers in India (Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nadiad, Coimbatore) a total of 320 patients were enrolled.

* Dr. Sajja delivered a lecture in Dr. C Sambasiva Rao Memorial Endowment CME program on “Recent advances in Cardiac Surgery” at Guntur Medical College, Guntur on 28.Feb.2016.

* Lokeswara Rao Sajja. Bilateral internal thoracic artery grafting in India - time to raise the bar. Presented at American Association for Thoracic Surgery International Coronary Congress held in New York, USA. August 21-23,2015.

* Lokeswara Rao Sajja, Gopi Chand Mannam , Rama Chandra Raju Pusapati Ramesh Gudapati, Raghava Raju Penumatsa Jyothsna Guttikonda Sriramulu Sompalli. Analysis of thirty-day outcomes of off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: a large cohort study. Presented at American Association for Thoracic Surgery International Coronary Congress held in New York, USA. August 21-23,2015.

* Sajja LR, Strategies to reduce deep sternal wound infection after bilateral internal mammary artery grafting. Int J Surg. 2015;16: 171-178.

* Lokeswara Rao Sajja. “The Journey of Surgery for Coronary Artery Disease in India: Adoption, Customization and Innovation”. Sadasivan Oration. Indian J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2014; 30:116-128.

Healthy Heart Ride 2014 - KBR Park Hyderabad

Lokeswara Rao Sajja. The journey of surgery for coronary artery disease in India: adoption, customization and innovation. Sadasivan Oration of Indian Association of Cardiovascular –Thoracic Surgeons June 2014, Volume 30, Issue 2, pp 116-128

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