Treatments & Procedures
Stanford's Cardiac Surgery program enjoys an international reputation for excellence in all aspects of surgical treatment of heart disease.
Stanford Hospital & Clinics was one of the first facilities on the West Coast to perform open-heart surgery in the 1950s; the center later completed the first heart transplant in the U.S. under the direction of Dr. Norman Shumway, in January 1968.
Today, Stanford cardiac surgeons carry out advanced procedures and pioneer new ones, with an emphasis on minimally invasive techniques whenever possible. For example, our talented heart surgeons may elect to do a port-access coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) using small incisions in the chest, rather than opening the chest in the traditional manner.
In addition to heart transplant, the cardiac surgery program at Stanford offers the following treatments and procedures:
- Surgical treatment for Aortic Disease
- Aortic Valve Surgery
- Valve replacement using both mechanical and tissue valves (the replacement of worn or damaged heart valves, either by man-made alternatives or those from natural sources such as pigs)
- Valve preservation and repair
- Surgery for cardiac arrhythmias and insertion of the automatic implanted cardiac defibrillator (techniques such as ablation or insertion of an internal defibrillator to stop dangerously irregular heartbeats)
- Treatment for heart failure and cardiomyopathy
- Treatment of congenital heart disease
- Coronary artery bypass surgery with arterial and venous grafts (the technique usually referred to as a bypass, which involves using several of these conduits to bypass the blocked arteries in the heart)
- Transthoracic myocardial laser revascularization (TMLR), a new therapy to revascularize heart muscle in cases where a bypass cannot be performed. Surgeons create a series of channels between the outside and inside of the heart using a high-energy laser, allowing an adequate blood supply to treat disabling angina
- Thoracic Aortic Surgery to repair aneurysms of the heart and of the great vessels, including all types of thoracic aneurysms (techniques to surgically repair or reinforce distended blood vessels to prevent rupture)
- Brachytherapy (the placement of radioactive materials at a damaged site in an artery in an attempt to prevent obstructive plaque from re-forming)
- Percutaneous endovascular stent graft repair of descending thoracic aortic aneurysms (a method of reinforcing an aneurysm in the aorta using a stent, which is a tube made of metal mesh or coil. The stent helps prevent the aneurysm from bursting)
- Surgery for heart tumors
- Treatment of pericardial disease (pericardial disease affects the tissues surrounding the heart)
In addition to the attending cardiac surgeons, the team is composed of fellows in an approved residency program leading to certification by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, clinical nurse specialists, dedicated cardiac anesthesiologists, and nurses specialized in the care of postsurgical patients.
There are facilities for telemetry for cardiac arrhythmias and an excellent postsurgical rehabilitation and physical therapy program to enhance recovery.