Cardiac Surgery | Department of Surgery | The University …

Our cardiac surgeons have established a renowned heart transplant program, which is the largest in Illinois and second largest in the Midwest. One key element to our success is our patients' wait time on the transplant list as compared to the national average. While the most recent national data indicates that patients wait an average of four months for a transplant, 50 percent of our patients receive a transplant in approximately one month. Furthermore, our program's physicians and surgeons were the first to successfully simultaneously perform a heart, liver and kidney transplant and have extensive experience in multiple organ transplants.

Our pediatric cardiac surgeons are also at the forefront of surgical procedures. Our state-of-the-art Comer Children's Hospital allows our faculty to enhance and expand their innovative and pioneering work in hybrid surgery -a minimally invasive, off-pump approach for newborns suffering from hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This technique buys time, enables the infant to survive without a massive operation soon after birth and allows the child to grow for several months, which makes follow-up operations easier.

Complementing these complex surgical techniques is our faculty's vast experience in minimally invasive surgical techniques. We were the first to perform a DaVinci-assisted coronary artery bypass graft surgery in Chicago and routinely perform minimally invasive valve surgeries, including complex redo valves.

The Section of Cardiac Surgery has a robust clinical and research enterprise. Physician-scientists within the section pursue a wide range of projects, including bench, translational, and outcomes research focused on cardiac and thoracic diseases. The section has an active R01-funded laboratory led by Mahesh Gupta, PhD, who is studying the molecular basis of heart failure.

The section actively enrolls in a number of ongoing clinical trials and is part of the prestigious NHLBI-sponsored Cardiothoracic Clinical Trials Network. In addition, the section contributes to the Society of Thoracic Surgeon (STS) Database, International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection (IRAD), the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (InterMACS), American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG), and Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB). Faculty members also work closely with industry partners to develop and evaluate devices for use in organ preservation and in the treatment of valvular disease and heart failure.

As chief of Cardiac Surgery, I am extremely proud to work collaboratively with such a distinguished group of surgeons, physicians and researchers. One of our section's great strengths is the spirit of innovation that runs through our program. This spirit of innovation is coupled with a passion for delivering the best results for not only our patients, but for patients with cardiac and thoracic ailments throughout the world.

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Cardiac Surgery | Department of Surgery | The University ...