Dr. Hirofumi Takemura graduated from Kanazawa University School of Medicine in 1985 and immediately joined the Cardiovascular Surgery Department at Kanazawa University under Professor Takashi Iwa. Emeritus Professor Iwa was a leading authority on the accessory pathway ablation for WPW syndrome, alongside Prof. Seely. From 1998, Dr. Takemura studied abroad as a clinical fellow at Green Lane Hospital in New Zealand, where he learned a great deal from numerous cardiac surgeons who continued the legacy of Sir Brian Gerald Barratt-Boyes. In particular, he studied the French correction technique of Carpentier.
In 2003, he was appointed as a professor of cardiovascular surgery at Gifu University. Influenced by a discussion with Dr. Patrick Perier, who visited Japan at that time, he practiced the "respect rather than resect" approach. However, in the latter part of his tenure, he switched to using the plication technique for repairing almost all cases of posterior prolapse. After moving to Kanazawa University as a professor in 2015, he continued to accumulate cases using this method, achieving a 93% success rate of plication for posterior prolapse, with good mid-term results, which he has reported at Japanese academic conferences. He is greatly honored to be able to host the AATS/JATS Mitral Conclave Workshop in Kanazawa.