Cardiologists at the Jefferson Heart Institute (JHI) provide exemplary comprehensive medical and surgical care to patients needing cardiovascular care. Through the combined impact
of the high-quality clinical services, educational and research programs it sponsors, JHI seeks to contribute significantly
to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of heart disease.
Their emphasis on heart disease prevention and innovative non-invasive approaches restores patients to health without open
heart surgery.
- 55,000 patients visited Jeff Cardiologists last year.
- Jefferson Heart Institute offers the Delaware Valley’s most comprehensive and sophisticated heart care diagnostic and treatment
options, including coronary CT angiography and heart transplant.
- Jeff’s Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Program cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons have been involved
in nearly 1,000 heart transplants. More than 1,900 patients have been treated at the center. The center is UNOS certified
for cardiac transplantation.
At the Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Center at Jefferson Heart Institute, cardiologists are having success treating patients who have debilitating congestive heart failure (CHF). CHF may lead to
the need for heart transplantation. The center and its staff of cardiologists and transplant surgeons offer the full range
of therapy from drug therapy, to minimally invasive surgery, to assist devices and transplantation when necessary.
Jefferson is participating in many national trials in pharmaceutical, device and genome research and the multicenter, multinational
MOMENTUM trial, studying a femoral-femoral non-surgical augmentation pump for patients with congestive heart failure.
In a recently expanded and dedicated facility, Jefferson’s Electrophysiology Laboratory improves heart muscle function by pacing both the left and right ventricles and synchronizing their contractions to improve
the power of the heart muscle and lessen the degree of heart failure. Jeff cardiologists also prevent lethal rhythm problems
for a number of these patients by implanting cardioverter defibrillators. The laboratory offers new by-plane X-ray technology
for superior imaging with minimal discomfort, non-surgical radiofrequency ablation to treat tachycardia in one day and laser
technology to perform complex lead extraction procedures.
The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is testing the safety and efficacy of a minimally invasive procedure using a device
called a PFO Occluder to seal a flap that can be present between the two upper chambers of the heart (the right and the left
atria) known as Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO). Evidence suggests that this flap may be the cause of unexplainable strokes in
younger patients. The catheterization procedure seals the PFO without the need for open-heart surgery or prescription blood-thinners.
Cardiologists at Jefferson are using a revolutionary device – similar to a pacemaker – that sends pulses through three electrical
leads to keep the heart functioning more efficiently for patients who have congestive heart failure. Biventricular pacing
is technology similar to a pacemaker that coordinates the contraction patterns of both chambers of the heart.
Jefferson cardiologists offer innovative ways to treat heart disease without open-heart surgery. They clear blood vessels
in the heart that are the hardest to reach and help them stay open with technology called small-blood-vessel stenting which
works in conjunction with balloon angioplasty to improve both shortand long-term results.
The Department of Medicine’s Project CARE has launched multidisciplinary initiative to improve the standards of care by integrating
the latest clinical guidelines into everyday patient care initially in two key diagnoses, Congestive Heart Failure and Acute
Coronary Syndromes, but with application promise for all common discharge diagnoses.
Jeff’s Department of Medicine’s Center for Translational Research staff is working toward identifying disease by developing
ability to define individual genetic profiles by the characterization of single nucleotide polymorphisms and to screen for
characterized mutations in patients and in at-risk populations.
Jefferson cardiologists are pioneers in implanting drug eluting stents that prevent re-obstruction of the coronary vessels
after stenting, reducing the re-obstruction rate from 50 percent to 4-to-5 percent, thereby preventing heart attacks and complications.
For advanced medicine and superior Heart Care, see what Jeff can do for you!
