From left, Smidt Heart Institute leaders Joanna Chikwe, MD, Eduardo Marban, MD, PhD, and Christine M. Albert, MD, MPH.
Newswise — LOS ANGELES (April 22, 2022) -- The 2022 Annual Report from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai is available now, detailing the latest research and medical achievements by the expert team ranked No. 1 for cardiology and cardiac surgery in California by U.S. News & World Report.
“We are particularly proud that the Smidt Heart Institute takes exceptional care of the patients with the most complex and challenging conditions, which have often been deemed too risky for intervention elsewhere,” said Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, executive director of the Smidt Heart Institute, professor of Cardiology and the Mark Siegel Family Foundation Distinguished Chair. “We don’t always succeed in turning the tide of disease, but we never stop trying.”
From regenerative medicine and heart failure to COVID-19 heart damage and hypertension, Smidt Heart Institute physician-scientists showcase how they have improved patient care. Read the report here.
Advanced Heart Failure
Patients with heart failure treated at Cedars-Sinai experience among the best outcomes in the nation, thanks to state-of-the-art diagnostics and therapeutics, and an integrated heart team creating unique care plans for more than 18,000 patients each year.
Experts in advanced heart failure treat patients with a range of conditions—including hypertrophic and postpartum cardiomyopathy, cardiac amyloidosis, pulmonary hypertension, sarcoidosis, myocarditis, cardiac tumors, diastolic heart failure and adult congenital heart disease.
Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support
Between 2017 and 2021, 602 heart transplants were performed at Cedars-Sinai—more adult heart transplants than at any other U.S. program, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit organization that manages the nation’s organ transplant system. The transplant team has pioneered the use of “Heart in a Box” technology to keep donated organs viable outside the body, allowing them to be transported over greater distances and making more hearts available to transplant patients.
In 2021, physicians at Cedars-Sinai also pioneered new, minimally invasive techniques for lung transplantation. The team also expanded use of lifesaving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, during the COVID-19 pandemic, breaking records for number of days of successful ECMO support.
Valve Replacement and Repair
Cedars-Sinai is a pioneer in novel techniques to repair or replace leaking heart valves. Physicians in the Department of Cardiac Surgery have performed more than 1,000 minimally invasive robotic mitral valve repairs with a success rate above 99%, and between 2017 and 2021 performed more than 1,000 MitraClip procedures and more than 200 minimally invasive tricuspid valve repairs and replacements.
Physicians in the Cardiac Interventional Services and Aortic Surgery programs have performed more than 5,000 minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacements (TAVR) to date in patients with a broad range of heart conditions. And they performed more than 3,000 aortic valve replacements and repairs between 2011 and 2021.
Coronary Disease
For patients experiencing acute myocardial infarction, also known as heart attack, the expertise of the Cedars-Sinai heart team in coronary artery disease and coronary artery bypass procedures yields impressive survival rates.
The team has performed more than 400 nonsurgical procedures to treat narrowing of the coronary arteries, and 150 minimally invasive robotic coronary bypass operations.
Dedicated Expertise
The Smidt Heart Institute is home to physician-scientists dedicated to exploring the full range of heart-health issues and translating their knowledge into improved prevention and treatment of heart disease.
The institute conducts major science and public health research through The Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and its Women’s Hormone and Menopause Program, and the institute cares for congenital heart patients throughout their lives via The Guerin Family Congenital Heart Program and Congenital Heart Surgery Program.
The institute’s researchers published more than 4,000 peer-reviewed articles in FY 2021 in such high-impact journals as Nature, The Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.
Read more from the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Pregnancy and Heart Health
RSS