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.

Older adults and women more likely to develop postoperative infections after heart surgery

One in five older adults gets an infection up to six months after heart surgery - with women far more likely to develop one, according to studies led by Michigan Medicine.

19 Feb 2025

Sotagliflozin could be used to reduce the risk of deadly cardiovascular events, trial shows

Sotagliflozin, a drug recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat type 2 diabetes and kidney disease with additional cardiovascular risk factors, can significantly reduce heart attack and stroke among these patients, according to results from an international clinical trial led by a Mount Sinai researcher.

14 Feb 2025

Olpasiran significantly lowers "bad cholesterol" linked to cardiovascular risk

The RNA inhibitor olpasiran significantly reduces a type of "bad cholesterol" that's associated with a high risk of cardiovascular events, according to results from an analysis by a Mount Sinai researcher of a phase 2 trial.

13 Feb 2025

Ross procedure offers durable results in young patients

Young patients who have undergone the Ross procedure for aortic valve disease have shown excellent long-term survival, the majority without the need for additional surgery two decades later.

27 Jan 2025

Anti-obesity drugs show promise in improving cardiovascular health beyond weight loss

Popular anti-obesity drugs continue to show cardiovascular benefits beyond weight loss, according to several new papers published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology, that are being simultaneously presented at the American Heart Association's 2024 Scientific Sessions.

19 Nov 2024

Intravenous infusion of exenatide fails to reduce risks of complications in heart surgery patients

A large-scale clinical trial found that intravenous infusion of exenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog medication, during heart surgeries involving bypass did not significantly reduce the risk of death, stroke or organ failure.

18 Nov 2024

Singer Amy Grant highlights the need for support to fight women's heart disease

Singer-songwriter and musician, Amy Grant understands first-hand that cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the No. 1 cause of death for women.

13 Nov 2024

New device improves robot-assisted heart surgery

Robot-assisted heart surgery usually requires an assistant at the operating table to help the surgeon insert the robot arm through a small incision.

7 Nov 2024

Community health workers spread across the US, even in rural areas

Kelly Engebretson was excited to get fitted for a prosthetic after having part of his leg amputated. But he wasn't sure how he'd get to the appointment.

6 Nov 2024

Heart attack triggers sleep increase to aid recovery

A heart attack can trigger a desire to get more sleep, allowing the heart to heal and reduce inflammation - and this happens because the heart sends special signals to the brain, according to a new Mount Sinai study.

1 Nov 2024

Study finds no benefit of routine orbital atherectomy in cardiac stenting

Routine use of an orbital atherectomy device to remove calcium from severely blocked coronary arteries before patients undergo cardiac stenting procedures does not improve outcomes, a Mount Sinai-led study has found.

29 Oct 2024

Bed availability influences critical care admissions after surgery

Bed availability is a "significant" factor in determining whether or not a patient is admitted to a critical care bed after surgery, questioning whether some are getting the care they need, a new study from researchers at UCL and UCLH has found for the first time.

10 Oct 2024

Could heparin offer new hope in the fight against dementia?

Heparin therapy delays Alzheimer's diagnosis by one to two years, offering potential insights into new protective treatments. Large-scale health records show a promising association between the anticoagulant and delayed dementia onset.

10 Oct 2024

Atherosclerosis progression associated with increased risk of death in asymptomatic individuals

The progression of atherosclerosis in people who have no symptoms of it is independently associated with the risk of dying from any cause, according to a new study led by researchers from Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, published September 30 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

1 Oct 2024

Mount Sinai researchers uncover genetic basis of fibromuscular dysplasia

Mount Sinai researchers have identified a key driver of a blood vessel disorder known as fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) which affects up to five percent of the adult population and can lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, or stroke.

14 Sep 2024

New study confirms safety of SGLT2 inhibitors after acute myocardial infarction

The SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin confers kidney-protective benefits and can therefore be given safely and effectively to patients when they are hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (MI), a Mount Sinai-led global team of researchers has shown.

1 Sep 2024

Study finds no added benefit to routine potassium supplementation after CABG

For the prevention of new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) after isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, giving potassium supplements only when levels dropped below the lower limit of normal was non-inferior to routinely supplementing potassium to the upper limit of normal, according to late-breaking research presented in a Hot Line session today at ESC Congress 2024.