Clinical Focus

• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Thoracic Surgery

Administrative Appointments

• Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of California, San Diego Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery (2004 - 2005)
• Staff Surgeon, Department of Veterans Affairs (2006 - present)
• Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford Hospital and Clinics (2005 - present)
• Staff Surgeon, El Camino Hospital (2005 - present)
• Staff Surgeon, Regional Medical Center of San Jose (2007 - present)
View All 7administrative appointments of Kai Ihnken

Honors and Awards

• Customer Service Award, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (2008)
• Customer Service Award, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (2007)
• Outstanding Achievement Award, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine (2001)
• Ernst-Derra-Prize, German Assoc of Thoracic-and Cardiovascular Surgery Annual award for the most outstanding research (1997)
• Dos Santos Award, European Society for Cardiovascular Surgery (ESCVS) (1994)

Professional Education

Research Interests

His research fellowship at UCLA primarily focused on myocardial protection in hypoxic immature hearts. Other research topics included myocardial protection of the adult heart and skeletal muscle controlled reperfusion.

Ihnken’s other achievements include:
* the first description of placement of an aortic stent graft in the ascending aorta.
* the first worldwide application and US application of controlled limb reperfusion.
* the first description and first clinical application of normoxic cardiopulmonary bypass.
* the first description of “controlled reoxygenation” and “simultaneous antegrade and retrograde cardioplegic delivery.”

Publications:
* 50 peer review articles
* 250 abstracts, poster, and presentations in international meetings
* 30 manuscript reviews for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, and the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery

His interests include thoracic aortic and thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair, thoracic transplantation, off pump CABG, all arterial revascularization, aortic and mitral valve repair, minimal invasive thoracic surgery, robotic surgery, and percutaneous valve placement.

Publications

• Virtual angioscopy in type-A dissection: ascending aortic stent-graft repair. Verhoye JP, Sze DY, Ihnken K, Hellinger JC, Robbins RR, Dake MD. Ann Thorac Surg. 2006; 82 (1): 347
• Chronic mitral valve rejection requiring replacement in a nine-year-old allograft. Ihnken K, Fann JI, Burdon TA, Johnson FL, Kosek JC, Shumway NE. Ann Thorac Surg. 2005; 80 (5): 1909-11
• Computed tomography angiographic demonstration of a ventricular septal defect. Verhoye JP, Levin JM, Ihnken K, Miller DC. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2004; 26 (5): 1037
• The value of transesophageal echocardiography for endovascular graft stenting of the ascending aorta. van der Starre P, Guta C, Dake M, Ihnken K, Robbins R. J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2004; 18 (4): 466-8
• Successful treatment of a Stanford type A dissection by percutaneous placement of a covered stent graft in the ascending aorta. Ihnken K, Sze D, Dake MD, Fleischmann D, Van der Starre P, Robbins R. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2004; 127 (6): 1808-10