Heart Surgery News and Research

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Heart surgery is done to correct problems with the heart. More than half a million heart surgeries are done each year in the United States for a variety of heart problems. Heart surgery is used to correct heart problems in children and adults. This article discusses heart surgeries for adults. For more information about heart surgeries for children, see the Diseases and Conditions Index articles on congenital heart defects, holes in the heart, and tetralogy of Fallot.

The most common type of heart surgery for adults is coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). During CABG, surgeons use healthy arteries or veins taken from another part of the body to bypass (that is, go around) blocked arteries. CABG relieves chest pain and reduces the risk of heart attack.

Closing left atrial appendage linked to reduction in stroke risk for AFib patients

For patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib), a common heart rhythm disorder, closing the area of the heart known as the left atrial appendage as an add-on procedure during cardiac surgery was associated with a 40 percent reduction in the risk of thromboembolism (a condition when a blood clot forms and blocks an artery, which can cause a stroke or other complications) according to an observational study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 66th Annual Scientific Session.

20 Mar 2017

Study reveals link between endovascular procedures and microbleeding in the brain

Small leakages from blood vessels in the brain, known as microbleeds, increase with age and are associated with cognitive decline. Of 84 older patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), nearly a quarter developed new microbleeds after their procedure, according to results of a single-center study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 66th Annual Scientific Session.

20 Mar 2017

Palliative care consults for advanced cancer patients linked to improvement in multiple quality measures

Cancer patients admitted to the hospital with advanced stages of disease who were referred early to palliative care had decreased health care utilization and increased use of support services following discharge, according to a new study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. c

17 Mar 2017

Mount Sinai researchers review progress made in using ketamine and other therapies to treat depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) impacts 15 million Americans and is the leading cause of disability, yet current treatments possess limited efficacy.

17 Mar 2017

Continuation of statins may improve survival following heart surgery, research shows

Patients on statins should not stop taking the cholesterol-lowering medication before heart surgery—even on the day of surgery, according to an article posted online today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

16 Mar 2017

Frequent interactions with family members can impact age of autism diagnosis, research reveals

Children who have older siblings or frequent interaction with grandparents are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) earlier than those who do not, according to new research conducted at The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, and published in the journal Autism.

15 Mar 2017

Milli-robots powered by MRI could provide targeted minimally invasive treatment

Invasive surgical techniques - cutting through the breastbone for open heart surgery or making a large incision to inspect an abdominal tumor - allow physicians to effectively treat disease but can lead to sometimes serious complications and dramatically slow healing for the patient.

7 Mar 2017

Rheumatoid arthritis drug blocks metabolic pathway, reduces breast cancer tumors in mice

Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that a rheumatoid arthritis drug can block a metabolic pathway that occurs in tumors with a common cancer-causing gene mutation, offering a new possible therapy for aggressive cancers with few therapeutic options, according to a study to be published in Cancer Discovery.

3 Mar 2017

UCF scientist finds new way to use light for monitoring patient's blood during life-and-death surgeries

A University of Central Florida professor has invented a way to use light to continuously monitor a surgical patient's blood, for the first time providing a real-time status during life-and-death operations.

28 Feb 2017

Study reveals inaccuracy of exercise test that could lead to unnecessary open heart surgeries

An approved international test to check whether people need open heart surgery could be sending twice as many people under the knife unnecessarily, at a cost of nearly £75m, research by the University of Leicester has suggested.

24 Feb 2017

Researchers reveal biological pathways involved in diabetic kidney disease

Diabetes is a leading cause of kidney disease, a serious, often fatal complication that is difficult to diagnose in early, potentially treatable stages.

24 Feb 2017

Researchers create novel model that reveals cellular, molecular events driving leukemia progression

Mount Sinai researchers have created a novel model that shows the step-by-step progression from normal blood cells to leukemia and its precursor diseases, creating replicas of the stages of the disease to test the efficacy of therapeutic interventions at each stage, according to a study to be published in Cell Stem Cell.

16 Feb 2017

New technique during coronary bypass surgery shows reduction in problematic scar tissue growth

Surgeons often take a blood vessel from your leg to graft onto your heart during a coronary bypass surgery. The practice can lead to scarring in many patients, which in turn can cause another heart attack. A new technique under development may help prevent this problem.

16 Feb 2017

Scientists discover population of progenitor cells linked to formation of heart’s ventricular chambers

A population of cells in early development may give rise to the ventricular chambers of the heart, but not the atria, according to a study led by researchers from the Mindich Child Health and Development Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published today in Nature Communications.

14 Feb 2017

New ‘MAGIC algorithm’ can predict transplant patient’s risk of developing graft-versus-host disease

Researchers at Mount Sinai Health System have discovered a way to predict whether blood cancer patients who received a bone marrow transplant will develop graft-versus-host disease, a common and often lethal complication, according to a study published in JCI Insight.

9 Feb 2017

Mount Sinai study characterizes genetically modified rat model of autism and intellectual disability

Researchers at The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai have generated and characterized a genetically modified rat model of autism and intellectual disability, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published January 31 in the journal eLife.

31 Jan 2017

Scientists decode genetic profile of rare inherited disorder that can cause genital ambiguity

A complete clinical and genetic profile of a rare inherited disorder, steroid 11-hydroxylase deficiency, which can cause genital masculinization in females, is being reported by an international group of researchers led by investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

30 Jan 2017

Hypoxia in primary tumors influences dormant DTCs that evade cancer therapy, study shows

In a first of its kind study, Mount Sinai researchers have discovered the conditions by which specific signals in primary tumors of head and neck and breast cancers, pre-program cancer cells to become dormant and evade chemotherapy after spreading.

28 Jan 2017

Elderly patients with aortic stenosis experience better outcomes after surgical aortic valve replacement

Elderly patients with aortic stenosis (AS) and medium surgical risk experienced better than expected results after undergoing traditional surgical aortic valve replacement, according to research presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

25 Jan 2017

STS releases first publicly accessible report of outcomes from lung cancer surgery

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons has released the first publicly accessible national report of outcomes from lobectomy, a lung cancer procedure that removes a portion of the lung.

20 Jan 2017