Cardiac Surgery

The sedative dexmedetomidine, when administered during or after heart surgery, is associated with postoperative delirium and adverse outcomes. Read More

New findings suggest that treatments that decrease oxidative damage might help with postoperative delirium that occurs in up to 30% of cardiac surgery patients. Read More

A protease gene family may be new targets for treating mitral valve disease, which causes blood to flow backwards in the heart. Read More

The heart transplant team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center successfully transplanted two hearts using a novel preservation and transport technology allowing the heart to beat outside of the body for an extended amount of time. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) performed a record number of heart transplants in 2017, surpassing the 2016 milestone and securing its place as the second-busiest heart transplant program in the country. Read More

Higher concentrations of high-density lipoproteins — HDL, the “good” cholesterol — may be protective against acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered. Read More

Sixty-six year-old Frank Donatelli knew the $39 he spent to join eHarmony was worth it. Read More

As people in Middle Tennessee were experiencing the remnants of Hurricane Harvey during the early hours of Sept. 1, Catherine Hurt was battling another storm of her own. Read More

For decades the miracle of organ donation has relied on an ice cooler. Until now. Read More

Ashish Shah, M.D., director of Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Vanderbilt, has been named chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery. Read More

Surgeons at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) performed five heart transplants in four days to place the institution among an elite group of transplant centers in the country — reaching 1,000 heart transplantations. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is home to the second busiest heart transplant program in the country, according to the most recent data released by the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN). Read More

With the recent opening of the Vanderbilt Marfan Syndrome and Aortic Disorders Center, the state’s only comprehensive clinic serving entire families, hundreds of patients with connective tissue disorders now have a one-stop shop for health care. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center was recognized as the No. 1 hospital in Tennessee for Medical Excellence in Major Cardiac Surgery by CareChex 2017 Hospital Quality Ratings Analysis. Read More

When the Pharr family wears Vanderbilt regalia around their Mississippi town, people often say, “I thought you were Ole Miss people.” Read More

On April 7, a 48-year-old man from Bethpage, Tennessee, became the 300th person to receive a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) at Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI). Read More

Among doctors, it is widely believed that a class of drugs called statins, which are used to lower cholesterol, might help patients tolerate the stress of cardiac surgery. Not so, according to a five-year, placebo-controlled, double-blinded randomized clinical trial conducted at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, published today in the… Read More

Ashish Shah, M.D., has joined Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI) as director of Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Department of Cardiac Surgery has developed an Advanced Heart Failure Clinical and Translational Research Group that serves as a central research resource for advanced heart failure surgeons and cardiologists. Read More

A copy repairman who couldn’t do his job anymore and was forced to take medical leave has returned to work. A woman who couldn’t walk from her car to her desk job has enough energy to redecorate her house. A 42-year-old mother who was too sick to care for her… Read More