Heart & vascular surgery

When you or someone you love needs heart or vascular surgery, you want a surgeon with the expertise you can trust. Our physicians bring leading-edge cardiovascular care to Cincinnati and around the world. It's the care you’ve come to expect from Greater Cincinnati's Heart Hospital℠—accessible where and when you need it.

As a national leader in heart and vascular surgical care, surgeons at The Christ Hospital Health Network specialize in a broad spectrum of procedures and treatments. Our multidisciplinary team of experts provides treatments for heart or vascular conditions, from traditional procedures, to minimally invasive surgeries for people who may have previously been considered too high risk for surgery.

The Christ Hospital is consistently named one of the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics—a recognition received in part for providing excellent surgical care and patient outcomes. 

Heart & vascular procedures 

When you choose The Christ Hospital Health Network, rest assured your heart is in good hands. We offer unparalleled expertise in the spectrum of heart and vascular care.

Cardiothoracic Procedures include:

• Coronary artery bypass—a surgery that improves blood flow to the heart.
• Ross procedure—a procedure that removes a patient's own pulmonary valve and uses it to replace a diseased aortic valve. The pulmonary valve is then replaced with a pulmonary homograft (harvested from a donor).
• Heart valve repair—a procedure used to fix defects in heart valves.
• Heart valve replacement—a procedure that removes a damaged valve in the heart and replaces it with a new artificial valve. 
• Left Ventricular assist device (VAD)—for patients with advanced heart failure, a mechanical pump is implanted to increase the amount of blood that flows through the body.
  
• Robotic-assisted procedures - use a robotic "arm" to assist your surgeon's hands, leading to fewer side effects and quicker recovery times.

Electrophisiology procedures include:

• Cardiac ablation—a procedure that scars or destroys tissue in the heart to correct electrical signals that are causing an abnormal heart rhythm.
• Atrial fibrillation ablation—a procedure that destroys tiny areas of heart tissue that have abnormal electrical impulses.
• Cryoablation—a minimally invasive procedure that uses a thin, flexible tube to locate and freeze heart tissue that triggers an irregular heartbeat.
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)—a small device placed in the chest or abdomen to help treat irregular heartbeats called arrhythmias. 
• Radiation brachytherapy—a type of therapy that delivers radiation from implants placed close to, or inside, tumors in the body.

Interventional Cardiology procedures include:

• Angiojet thrombectomy—a technique that breaks up a blood clot that is partially or fully blocking blood flow in an artery. 
• Angioplasty—a procedure that opens blocked arteries and restores normal blood flow to the heart muscle. 
• Aortagram—an invasive diagnostic test that injects dye into the aorta. X-rays are then taken to show the blood flow.
• Coronary catheterization—a long thin tube (catheter) is inserted in an artery or vein in the groin, neck or arm and threaded through blood vessels to the heart to diagnose and treat cardiovascular conditions. 
• Coronary stents—a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries to keep them open.
• Intra-aortic balloon pump—a device inserted into the aorta that helps the heart pump more blood.
• Medicated stent—a mesh-like metal cylinder (stent) that gradually releases medicine into a blood vessel to keep it from becoming blocked. 
• Myocardial biopsy—a procedure that uses a small catheter, with a grasping device on the end, to obtain a small piece of heart muscle tissue for laboratory testing.
• Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA)—a minimally invasive type of angioplasty that restores blood flow to the femoral artery of the leg.
• Pulmonary angiography—a test to see how blood flows through the lung. 
• PTCA - a minimally invasive procedure that opens blocked coronary arteries.
• Thrombolytic therapy—a treatment that dissolves dangerous clots in blood vessels, improves blood flow, and prevents damage to tissues and organs.
• Transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR)—a procedure used to relieve severe angina or chest pain in very ill patients who aren't candidates for bypass surgery or angioplasty.

Structural Heart procedures include:

• Inferior vena cava (IVC) umbrella—a catheter-based procedure that places a tiny, metal umbrella in the inferior vena cava (the largest vein in the human body) to filter out harmful blood clots. 
• Atrial septal closure—a procedure that closes an opening or hole in the wall that separates the two upper chambers of the heart.
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)—a minimally invasive procedure that replaces a narrowed aortic valve that is not opening properly.
• Valvuloplasty—a procedure that repairs a heart valve that has a narrowed opening.

Vascular procedures include:

• Abdominal aorta aneurysm surgery—Open abdominal surgery removes the damaged section of the aorta and replaces it with a synthetic tube. Endovascular surgery, a less invasive procedure, attaches a synthetic graft to the end of a thin tube that is inserted through an artery in the leg and threaded up into the aorta.
• Atherectomy—a minimally invasive endovascular surgery that removes plaque from blood vessels.
• Carotid endarterectomy—a procedure that opens or cleans the carotid artery to help prevent stroke.
• Coil embolization—a catheter-based procedure that allows precise blocking of abnormal blood flow in a blood vessel.
• Peripheral artery stents—this procedure uses a stent (a small, metal mesh tube) to open blocked peripheral arteries.
• Peripheral vascular surgery—a technique that removes the plaque buildup inside a blocked artery.

Imaging procedures include:

• Computed axial tomography (CAT scan)—a diagnostic imaging method that reveals soft-tissue and other structures of the body that cannot be seen in conventional X-rays.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pacemaker—this device allows patients to safely receive an MRI, which could lead to the detection and treatment of serious medical conditions that may not be found in patients implanted with traditional pacemakers.
• Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE)—a test that uses high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to make detailed pictures of the heart and arteries that lead to and from it.

Through groundbreaking research taking place right here in Cincinnati, we are able to offer innovative treatment options unavailable elsewhere in the region. In addition to the procedures listed above, The Christ Hospital Lindner Research Center is evaluating new treatments every day. To find current heart and vascular clinical trials for your condition, call 513-585-1777.

Our heart and vascular team

To learn more about our heart and vascular surgical options, call 513-206-1170 or Click the link to find a cardiovascular surgeon.