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About the Heart Center at Sinai

As one of the region's most comprehensive cardiac care centers, The Heart Center at Sinai offers advanced heart care, a highly equipped cardiac catheterization laboratory, and an Emergency Chest Pain Evaluation Unit that makes chest pain a priority, allowing physicians to diagnose and begin treatment at the earliest possible moment. Other services include a Coronary Care/Progressive Care unit with 14 coronary care beds and 48 progressive care, including 12 Open Heart Step-Down beds.

Institute for Preventive Cardiology

An extension of The Heart Center at Sinai is located at LifeBridge Health & Fitness, where the Institute for Preventive Cardiology offers preventive health care and cardiac rehabilitation. Staffed by cardiologists, cardiac rehabilitation specialists, nutritionists, exercise physiologists, and behavioral psychologists, the Institute provides patient evaluations and tailors treatment programs to the needs of the individual client. Call 410-484-6800 x208 for more information.

In addition, there are several main categories of heart surgery performed at the Heart Center at Sinai:

Coronary Artery Bypass

This is the most common surgical treatment for addressing blockages of the heart. During this procedure, the surgeon takes a portion of vein from the inner thigh or calf and the mammary artery to form a bypass around the vessels of heart artery that has become blocked. The bypass graft reroutes blood flow around the blockage. A patient can have as many as four to six artery bypasses.

Valve Replacement and Repair

The heart's four valves let blood in and out of the heart's chambers. Disease or scarring can hurt the valves' ability to open and close properly. This leads to a weakened heart muscle, causing pain, shortness of breath and other symptoms. During valve repair, the surgeon may cut or separate the flaps of a narrowed or damaged valve. A leaking valve may be repaired to help it close more tightly. Valves that cannot be repaired may be replaced with a mechanical or tissue valve, depending upon the specific needs of the patient.

Surgery of the Aorta or Aortic Root

The aorta, the main artery in the body, carries fresh oxygenated blood out of the left ventricle of the heart and delivers it to the body. There are two reasons for aortic surgery. An aneurysm is an enlargement of the blood vessel due to a weakening of the vessel walls. As the aneurysm enlarges, the risk of rupture increases. If an aneurysm tears in a section of the weakened blood vessel, it is called an aortic dissection. When this happens, blood flows through the tear into the space between the layers and may cut off flow to branch vessels or rupture. Surgical treatment is based on risk of rupture and dissection within the enlarged section of the aorta. The weakened blood vessel can be replaced with an artificial tube or, in some cases repaired, sparing the patient's valve.

Congenital Heart Defects

Most heart defects either obstruct blood flow in the heart or vessels near it or cause blood to flow through the heart in an abnormal pattern. Obstructions partially or completely block the flow of blood and occur in the heart valves, arteries, or veins. Although some heart defects can be treated with medicine, surgery is usually more appropriate and is used to repair the defect as completely as possible to create a normal circulation.