Cardiac Surgery

Vanderbilt employee Drew Casey, 27, was at home when he began to experience shortness of breath. Thinking it might be a panic attack, his wife, Katie, called 911, and an ambulance took Casey to the Emergency Department, where he progressed very suddenly to circulatory failure and shock. Read More

Sometimes smaller is better. This is especially true of left ventricular assist devices, the mechanically operated heart pumps that are implanted in heart failure patients to bridge them to transplantation. Read More

Variation in the gene for the beta-1 adrenergic receptor increases the risk that a patient will have an abnormal heart rhythm after cardiac surgery. Read More

Michael Petracek, M.D., has been named chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Cardiac Surgery. Read More

James L. Cox UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Rollin A. Daniel Jr. M.D. Lecture scheduled for Nov. 22 has been canceled. It will be rescheduled for a later date. Pioneering cardiothoracic surgeon James L. Cox will speak on the history and future of atrial fibrillation therapies at 7 a.m. Friday,… Read More

On Tuesday, Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute employees gathered to bid farewell to John Byrne, M.D., William S. Stoney Jr. Professor of Cardiac Surgery and chair of the department. Read More

Michael Petracek, M.D., has been named interim chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Cardiac Surgery. Read More

John G. Byrne, M.D., William S. Stoney Jr. Professor of Cardiac Surgery and chair of the department, is stepping down from his position to become the chief of Cardiac Surgery and the vice president of Surgical Services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He becomes the Lawrence H. Cohn Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, effective April 1, 2013. Read More

Two weeks after giving birth to her second child on July 10, 31-year-old Samantha Neal began to experience chest pain. Initially diagnosed with a gall bladder issue in her local ER, her true diagnosis would prove much more serious and potentially life-threatening. Read More

Mary Gwyn Bowen, R.N., is studying whether art on the walls motivates patients to ambulate more quickly following cardiac surgery. (Joe Howell / Vanderbilt) Following cardiac surgery, patients are encouraged to get out of bed and walk as soon as possible, a daunting task to many who… Read More

John E. Mayer Jr. John E. Mayer Jr., professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and senior associate in cardiac surgery at Children’s Hospital in Boston, will address “The Medicare Physician Payment Crisis: A Surgical Solution” from 7 to 8 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28 in Light Hall, Room 208. Read More

Tracy Barrett (Vanderbilt) Tracy Barrett, senior lecturer in Italian, has written Dark of the Moon, a re-telling of the Theseus myth for young adult readers, published by Harcourt Children’s Books. Leonard Bickman, the Betts Chair and professor… Read More

The Department of Cardiac Surgery and the Division of Cardiology are collaborating on a study to better understand the genetic profile of mitral valve regurgitation. Read More

Vanderbilt cardiothoracic anesthesiologists and surgeons are pioneering the use of a tool that many in the cardiac field are calling the “new stethoscope” when it comes to monitoring critically ill patients. Read More

Vanderbilt Heart will soon begin testing the safety of a novel, non-surgical approach to treating aortic stenosis, a common heart problem caused by an abnormal narrowing of the heart's aortic valve. Read More