# Thomas Pilgrim
**Thomas Pilgrim** (T Pilgrim) is a Swiss interventional cardiologist at the University Clinic of Cardiology, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, where he became Deputy Chief Physician, Head of Valvular Heart Diseases, and Head of Hybrid-OR Cardiology in 2020.[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim) According to the BIOSCIENCE trial report in *The Lancet*, he led randomised trials published in that journal on coronary stent polymers and on transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), including the BIOSCIENCE, BIOSTEMI, and ACURATE neo versus SAPIEN 3 trials.[2](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61038-2/abstract) • [3](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32220-2/abstract) • [4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/31488372) PCR, the European cardiac intervention congress platform, lists him as an interventional cardiologist at Bern University Hospital.[5](https://www.pcronline.com/Physicians/Thomas-Pilgrim)
| Key facts | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current position | Deputy Chief Physician, Head of Valvular Heart Diseases, and Head of Hybrid-OR Cardiology, University Clinic of Cardiology, Inselspital, Bern, from 2020[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim) |
| Field | Interventional and structural cardiology: coronary stents, transcatheter aortic valves[5](https://www.pcronline.com/Physicians/Thomas-Pilgrim) |
| Medical degree | University of Bern, 1998–2004[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim) |
| Board certification | FMH Cardiology 2012; Habilitation in cardiology 2013; Associate Professorship, University of Bern, 2015[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim) |
| Signature work | BIOSCIENCE trial, The Lancet, 2014: biodegradable-polymer sirolimus-eluting stents non-inferior to durable-polymer everolimus-eluting stents[2](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61038-2/abstract) |
| Current trial role | Bern site contact, Evolut EXPAND TAVR-II pivotal trial in moderate aortic stenosis (registry record updated June 2026)[6](https://www.humanforschung-schweiz.ch/en/trial-search/study-detail/62553/?cHash=f4b22a35f8622346aad77cecd1fbea97) |
## Training and career
Pilgrim studied medicine at the University of Bern from 1998 to 2004.[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim) From 2005 to 2010 he trained in internal medicine and cardiology at Spital Interlaken, at the Inselspital Bern, and at Maimonides Medical Center in New York; he passed the [United States Medical Licensing Examination](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-medical-licensing-examination) in 2005.[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim)
His dated career progression at Bern runs as follows. He was senior attending physician (Oberarzt) in invasive cardiology at Universitätsspital Bern from 2010 to 2016.[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim) He completed his [Habilitation](https://www.edgepedia.org/habilitation) in cardiology in 2013 and received an associated professorship at the University of Bern in 2015.[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim) He became Deputy Chief Physician and head of the valvular heart disease functional area and of hybrid-OR cardiology in 2020.[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim) In 2019 he added an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.[1](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim)
The Inselspital cardiology department, where he leads the valve program, describes itself as one of the internationally leading centers for transcatheter aortic valve implantation and catheter-based mitral valve reconstruction.[7](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/unser-angebot/herzklappenerkrankungen)
## Representative work
The stent-polymer trials. BIOSCIENCE, led from Bern and sponsored by Insel Gruppe AG with Biotronik AG and the University of Bern as collaborators, randomly assigned 2,100+ patients with about 2,500 lesions at nine Swiss hospitals between February 2012 and May 2013 to ultrathin-strut biodegradable-polymer sirolimus-eluting stents or durable-polymer everolimus-eluting stents.[2](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61038-2/abstract) • [8](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01443104) At 12 months, target lesion failure was 6.5% versus 6.6%, meeting non-inferiority (absolute risk difference −0.14%, p<0.0004), and in the pre-specified STEMI subgroup the sirolimus stent showed better outcomes (3.3% vs 8.7%; rate ratio 0.38).[2](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61038-2/abstract) The five-year follow-up, published in [The Lancet](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-lancet), found no significant long-term difference (rate ratio for target lesion failure 1.07, 95% CI 0.88–1.31; p=0.487).[9](https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(18)31715-x)
The BIOSTEMI trial extended the question to heart attack patients: 1,300 patients with acute myocardial infarction, randomised between April 2016 and March 2018, showed target lesion failure at 12 months in 4% with biodegradable-polymer versus 6% with durable-polymer stents (rate ratio 0.59, posterior probability of superiority 0.986), driven by reduced ischaemia-driven target-lesion revascularisation.[4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/31488372) At two years the difference persisted (5.1% vs 8.1%; rate ratio 0.58).[10](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcin.2020.12.011) A patient-level meta-analysis pooling five randomised trials with 5,780 patients at a median follow-up of 739 days found a similar overall risk of target lesion failure (10.3% vs 12.2%; hazard ratio 0.86, 95% CI 0.71–1.06), with no significant differences in cardiac death, target-vessel myocardial infarction, or revascularisation.[11](https://isidore.science/document/10.1016/j.ahj.2021.02.009)
The valve trial. In the randomised comparison of the self-expanding ACURATE neo against the balloon-expandable SAPIEN 3 bioprosthesis, 739 patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis (mean age 82.8 years) were enrolled between February 2017 and February 2019. The 30-day primary endpoint occurred in about 20% with ACURATE neo versus about 13% with SAPIEN 3, so non-inferiority was not met; a secondary analysis suggested SAPIEN 3 superiority (p of about 0.01), with more moderate or severe prosthetic aortic regurgitation (about 7% vs about 2%) and acute kidney injury (about 2% vs under 1%) with the self-expanding valve.[3](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32220-2/abstract)
## How the results sit in the field
The stent-polymer question his trials address had earlier context: a BMJ mixed treatment comparison meta-analysis drawing on 126 randomised trials and 258,544 patient-years concluded that biodegradable-polymer drug-eluting stents are superior in the field's stent hierarchy.[12](https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/347/bmj.f6625.full.pdf) His own pooled five-trial analysis, however, found the two platforms statistically similar overall, while the BIOSTEMI trial in patients with acute myocardial infarction showed superiority for biodegradable-polymer stents.[11](https://isidore.science/document/10.1016/j.ahj.2021.02.009) • [4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/31488372)
On valves, the earlier CHOICE randomised trial had found higher device success with balloon-expandable valves (relative risk 1.24), attributed to less residual more-than-mild aortic regurgitation (4.1% vs 18.3%).[13](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1854355) The ACURATE neo versus SAPIEN 3 trial likewise favored the balloon-expandable valve on the primary endpoint.[3](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32220-2/abstract)
## Current activity through 2026
Pilgrim is the listed contact for the Bern site of the Evolut EXPAND TAVR-II pivotal trial (NCT05149755, registered November 2021), which randomises patients with aortic stenosis between guideline-directed medical therapy alone and TAVR with the Medtronic Evolut PRO+ or FX device plus medical therapy; the Swiss registry record was last updated on 16 June 2026 with recruitment ongoing at Bern.[6](https://www.humanforschung-schweiz.ch/en/trial-search/study-detail/62553/?cHash=f4b22a35f8622346aad77cecd1fbea97) At EuroPCR 2025 he presented work on optimizing self-expanding TAVI outcomes, including pooled analyses and multicenter studies of the ACURATE IDE and ACURATE prime studies and comparisons of balloon-expandable versus self-expanding valves.[5](https://www.pcronline.com/Physicians/Thomas-Pilgrim) At EuroPCR 2026 he was associated with a session critically evaluating the latest long-term data comparing TAVI and surgical aortic valve replacement, including valve durability and lifetime management in Heart Team discussions.[5](https://www.pcronline.com/Physicians/Thomas-Pilgrim)
## Standing and collaborations
His work sits within the Bern valve program, which the hospital positions among the internationally leading centers for TAVI and catheter-based mitral valve reconstruction.[7](https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/unser-angebot/herzklappenerkrankungen) Publisher and congress profiles corroborate his focus areas: Radcliffe [Cardiology](https://www.edgepedia.org/cardiology) lists him with coverage of coronary intervention and atherosclerosis and hyperlipidemia intervention,[14](https://www.radcliffecardiology.com/authors/thomas-pilgrim) and Synapse describes his research focus as TAVI/TAVR, valvular heart diseases, coronary interventions, infective endocarditis, and aortic disease.[15](https://synapsesocial.com/authors/69c5d4530efe77749e2f07fe)
## References
1. Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Pilgrim, Universitätsklinik für Kardiologie, Inselspital. https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/ueber-uns/details/person/detail/thomas-pilgrim
2. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61038-2/abstract
3. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32220-2/abstract
4. BIOSTEMI: biodegradable versus durable polymer stents in STEMI. The Lancet, via Europe PMC. https://europepmc.org/article/MED/31488372
5. Thomas Pilgrim, PCR (EuroPCR) physician profile. https://www.pcronline.com/Physicians/Thomas-Pilgrim
6. Evolut EXPAND TAVR-II-Pivotalstudie, Human Research Switzerland. https://www.humanforschung-schweiz.ch/en/trial-search/study-detail/62553/?cHash=f4b22a35f8622346aad77cecd1fbea97
7. Herzklappenerkrankungen, Universitätsklinik für Kardiologie, Inselspital. https://kardiologie.insel.ch/de/unser-angebot/herzklappenerkrankungen
8. Sirolimus-eluting Stents With Biodegradable Polymer Versus an Everolimus-eluting Stent (BIOSCIENCE), ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01443104. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01443104
9. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(18)31715-x
10. Biodegradable- versus durable-polymer drug-eluting stents for STEMI (BIOSTEMI) 2-year outcomes. JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcin.2020.12.011
11. Biodegradable polymer sirolimus-eluting stents vs durable polymer everolimus-eluting stents: meta-analysis of individual patient data from 5 randomized trials. American Heart Journal. https://isidore.science/document/10.1016/j.ahj.2021.02.009
12. Bare metal stents, durable polymer drug eluting stents, and biodegradable polymer drug eluting stents for coronary artery disease: mixed treatment comparison meta-analysis. BMJ. https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/347/bmj.f6625.full.pdf
13. Comparison of Balloon-Expandable vs Self-expandable Valves in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: The CHOICE Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1854355
14. Thomas Pilgrim, Radcliffe Cardiology author profile. https://www.radcliffecardiology.com/authors/thomas-pilgrim
15. Thomas Pilgrim, Synapse author profile. https://synapsesocial.com/authors/69c5d4530efe77749e2f07fe
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Medical and health researchers › Researchers in cardiovascular, metabolic, and endocrine research › Interventional cardiology researchers*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license