Cardiac, Thoracic, and Vascular Surgery Department

Treating cardiothoracic and vascular conditions

We address a wide range of complex conditions, and your surgeon is experienced in advanced surgical approaches that are as minimally invasive as possible. Our highly trained surgeons have a multitude of approaches to treating cardiac, thoracic and esophageal, and vascular diseases.

Cardiac condition treatment

Cardiac surgery is employed to correct or improve a wide range of heart conditions when less invasive treatments (like medication or lifestyle changes) are not working well enough or when the condition poses an immediate, severe threat. This surgery is often performed as open-heart surgery, meaning the chest bone is opened to access the heart. When possible, we use minimally invasive techniques for some procedures, which can involve smaller incisions. Cardiac conditions treated with surgery include:

• Coronary Artery Disease (CAD): When medications alone are insufficient to manage blockages or narrowing of the heart's arteries.
• Heart valve disease: When heart valves are severely narrowed (stenosis) or leaking (regurgitation), causing significant symptoms or impairing heart function.
• Heart failure: To improve heart function, prolong life, and enhance the quality of life for patients with severely weakened hearts, especially when caused by severe CAD or valve disease.
• Arrhythmias (heart rhythm disorders): To address abnormal electrical pathways causing irregular heartbeats.
• Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG): Often called heart bypass surgery, this procedure uses a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body to create a new path for blood to flow around a blocked or narrowed coronary artery, restoring blood supply to the heart muscle.
• Heart valve repair or replacement: Performed for severely narrowed or leaking heart valves. This can be done via open-heart surgery or minimally invasive transcatheter procedures like Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR).
• Heart transplantation: Replaces a diseased heart with a healthy donor heart, typically a treatment of last resort for end-stage heart failure.
• Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs): Mechanical pumps implanted to assist the heart in pumping blood, serving as a bridge to transplant or long-term support.
• Maze Procedure: A surgical technique that involves creating cuts or ablations in the atria to block abnormal electrical pathways causing arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation.
• Pacemaker/ICD Implantation: Surgical insertion of devices under the skin with wires guided into the heart to regulate heart rate (pacemaker) or deliver shocks for dangerous fast rhythms (ICD).

Thoracic, esophageal, and lung diseases treatment

Thoracic surgeons treat medical conditions affecting the organs and structures within the chest cavity, excluding the heart itself. This includes diseases of the lungs (such as cancers, emphysema, and severe infections), the esophagus (like cancer, achalasia, and severe reflux-related issues), and other thoracic structures like the chest wall (e.g., pectus excavatum), the mediastinum (the space between the lungs where conditions like thymomas occur), and the pleural lining (e.g., pneumothorax or fluid collections). Conditions we treat include:

Depending on the specific condition, our surgeons are highly trained in lung and thoracic-related surgeries including:

Our esophageal surgeries:

Vascular disease treatment

Vascular diseases affect your blood vessels – your arteries and veins. These vessels are the crucial "plumbing system" of your body, responsible for transporting blood, oxygen, and nutrients to every organ and tissue, and carrying waste products away. When these vessels are damaged, narrowed, blocked, or weakened, it can lead to a wide range of health problems, affecting virtually any part of the body. Vascular conditions we treat include:

• Abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Carotid artery disease
• Peripheral artery disease
• Renal artery disease
• Venous insufficiency and varicose veins, wound healing, lymphedema, and critical limb ischemia
• Thoracic outlet syndrome
• Pelvic venous congestion
• Median arcuate ligament syndrome

Our surgical treatments for vascular conditions include:

• Open and endovascular aortic aneurysm repairs (EVAR) with stent grafts
• Carotid endarterectomy
• Carotid angioplasty with stenting
• Bypass surgery
• Open and endovascular therapy for peripheral artery disease
• Thrombolytic therapy/mechanical thrombectomy
• Radiofrequency ablation for saphenous vein
• Drug-coated balloon angioplasty
• Renal angioplasty with stenting
• Renal endarterectomy
• Hemodialysis access surgery
• Thoracic outlet decompression surgery
• Transcarotid revascularization (TCAR)

Cardiac, thoracic, and vascular surgery specialists

When navigating a cardiac, thoracic, and vascular condition being seen by a highly trained and experienced surgery specialist like those at AHN can make a significant difference in your health outcome. Our surgeons have dedicated their professional lives to understanding and treating cardiac, thoracic, and vascular diseases and are committed to treating each patient with personalized and comprehensive care. 

How to get care

All thoracic, cardiac, and vascular procedures require a referral from a health care provider before scheduling. If you do not have a referral, call (412) DOCTORS 412-362-8677 to schedule an appointment with your primary care provider to explore all possible causes of your symptoms. If you have a referral for a cardiac procedure, contact the team at the facility where you want to have the procedure completed:

Facilities

If you have a referral for a surgical procedure, contact the team at the facility where you want to have the procedure completed:

Clinical trials and research

The Cardiovascular Institute conducts pioneering research in all aspects of cardiovascular disease, which improves national standards of care and patient outcomes. We offer more than 75 clinical trials to eligible individuals. Our preclinical research includes:

• Endothelial cell-based diagnostics and targeted therapeutics in pulmonary vascular disease.
• Development and testing of novel sensor technology to monitor cardiac function after open-heart surgery.

Our clinical translational research includes:

• Decision support in advanced heart failure and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
• Pulmonary arterial hypertension biobank.
• Cardiovascular tissue biobank.
• Geometric surrogates for abdominal aortic aneurysms.
• Biologic markers of functional recovery on mechanical circulatory support. If you would like to participate in a clinical trial and help our innovative team discover groundbreaking approaches, ask your doctor if you’re eligible to participate in one.

Find currently active heart and cardiology clinical trials that are open for participation.

What is a clinical trial?

Clinical trials are studies that try to answer questions about new ways to treat conditions with medications, radiation, or surgical techniques. You participate in a clinical trial only if you volunteer to do so and meet criteria for inclusion in the study, and you can stop participating in a trial at any time.

Who can join a clinical trial?

The plan for the trial, called a protocol, explains what the trial will do and how the study will be done. Based on the questions the research is trying to answer, each clinical trial protocol outlines specific criteria necessary to be eligible to join the trial.

Common criteria for entering a trial are:

• Having a certain type of disease or condition.
• Having received a certain kind of therapy in the past.
• Being in a certain age group.

Federal rules help ensure that clinical trials are run in an ethical manner, with your rights and safety protected. It’s to ensure that you’re not put at increased risk by participating in the trial, and that the results of the study are accurate and meaningful.

Refer your patient to an AHN specialist

There are two ways for medical professionals, who are not a part of Allegheny Health Network, to refer their patients to an AHN specialist and request their first appointment. You can:

1. Call (412) DOCTORS 412-362-8677.
2. Go to Find Care to find the right AHN specialist and the most convenient location. Then refer your patient, provide relevant patient details, and request an appointment directly from the doctor's profile.

For more information about referring your patient to an AHN specialist, read the Independent Physician Referral FAQs.