ELITE LIST: Top 25 Hospitals for Bypass Surgery

At age 40, a man has a 67 percent chance of developing a heart problem within his lifetime, a woman a more than 50 percent chance -- which makes getting the best medical care critical. So Worth asked healthcare research firm Castle Connolly to identify the best hospitals nationwide for coronary bypass surgery, the most common procedure performed as a result of heart disease. If you have to have heart surgery, here are the 25 hospitals, listed alphabetically, you should consider.

01 THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HEART CARE INSTITUTE

Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, 314.362.1291
wuphysicians.wustl.edu

Wash U’s staff of 60 cardiologists performs more heart procedures than any other hospital in Missouri. They have an impressive 97 percent success rate for cardiac interventions.

02 CARL J. & RUTH SHAPIRO CARDIOVASCULAR CENTER

Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, 857.307.4000
brighamandwomens.org

Brigham and Women’s boasts a series of cardio-care firsts, including the world’s first mitral valve operation, the first cardiovascular intensive care unit and the first heart transplant in New England.

03 CEDARS_SINAI HEART INSTITUTE

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, 800.233.2771
csmc.edu

In June doctors here performed the first procedure injecting a patient with his own heart cells to restore scarred tissue. They harvested cardiac tissue and used it to grow cardiac stem cells.

04 MILLER FAMILY HEART AND VASCULAR INSTITUTE

The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, 800.659.7822
my.clevelandclinic.org

In March comedian Robin Williams underwent open-heart surgery here; by the end of summer he was onstage performing and giving shout-outs to the Miller Institute.

05 DUKE HEART CENTER

Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., 888.478.3853
dukeheartcenter.org

Duke doctors developed the first real-time volumetric ultrasound system, which lets physicians see a 3-D image of the heart.

06 EMORY HEART & VASCULAR CENTER

Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, 404.778.7777
emoryhealthcare.org

Emory doctors are testing a new technology implanting atrial fibrillation sufferers with tiny devices that prevent blood clots.

07 PENN CARDIAC CARE

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 800.789.7366
pennmedicine.org

Doctors here were the first to be certified to perform temporary total artificial heart implantations.

08 HEART & VASCULAR INSTITUTE

Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, 410.955.2800
hopkinsmedicine.org

In 2009 Johns Hopkins became one of three U.S. hospitals to be approved and trained to implant AbioCor, an artificial heart with a built-in battery and microprocessor that sends radio signals to a computer.

09 HEART CENTER

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, 866.644.8910
massgeneral.org

Mass General’s robotically-assisted “Da Vinci Surgical System” lets surgeons access the heart through tiny incisions between the ribs, decreasing pain and bleeding while speeding recovery time.

10 CARDIOVASCULAR CARE CENTER

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., 507.284.2511
mayoclinic.org

In September Mayo Clinic researchers presented research showing that software mimicking the brain can replace invasive exams to diagnose cardiac infections by evaluating symptoms.

11 METHODIST DEBAKEY HEART & VASCULAR CENTER

Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, 713.790.3333
methodisthealth.com

In March Methodist DeBakey began holding semimonthly “Valve Conferences,” in which the center’s cardiac team assesses particularly complex cases. Doctors nationwide refer tough cases to these conferences.

12 MOUNT SINAI HEART

Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, 212.241.6500
mountsinai.org

Mount Sinai doctors were the first in the country to relieve atrial fibrillation, a condition that can cause strokes and affects some six million people in the U.S. They used a built-in camera to guide an internal laser balloon catheter in their 2009 procedure.

13 CARDIOTHORACIC SURGERY

New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, 212.305.8312
nyp.org

Known for their minimally invasive techniques, surgeons here have replaced 100 heart valves without open-heart surgery in the past four years.

14 DIVISION OF CARDIAC SURGERY

NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, 212.263.2190
med.nyu.edu

The “Least Invasive Valve” procedure, created by NYU surgeons Stephen Colvin and Aubrey Galloway, cuts the operative mortality rate by 45 percent for high-risk patients needing aortic valve replacement.

15 DEPARTMENT OF CARDIOTHORACIC SURGERY

St. Francis Hospital - The Heart Center, Roslyn, NY,516.562.6000
stfrancisheartcenter.com

In the last 10 years, the Heart Center's eight cardiothoracic surgeons have performed over 20,000 open-heart procedures.

16 HEART & LUNG INSTITUTE

St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center, Phoenix, 602.406.4000,
stjosephs-phx.org

St. Joseph’s doctors outpace national speed goals for treating heart attacks. The optimal time from when a heart attack victim gets to an emergency room until doctors open his blocked artery: 90 minutes. St. Joseph’s average time: 82 minutes.

17 TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE

St Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Houston, 832.355.4011
texasheart.org

St. Luke’s Dr. O. H. Frazier has implanted about 1,100 vascular-assist devices, making him the world’s most practiced surgeon in performing this procedure—the top treatment for patients with heart failure who are too ill to wait for a donor heart.

18 HEART CENTER

Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, Calif., 650.723.6459
stanfordhospital.org

In March 2009 Houston Astros third baseman Aaron Boone chose Stanford for surgery to replace a bicuspid aortic valve (a condition in which the heart doesn’t have enough valves to handle blood flow). He was back on the field by August.

19 DIVISION OF CARDIOTHORACIC SURGERY

UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, Los Angeles, 310.206.8232
surgery.ucla.edu

UCLA’s heart transplant team has the lowest rate of donor rejection in the country: Only five percent of UCLA patients’ immune systems reject their new heart.

20 CARDIAC CENTER

University of Chicago Medical Center, 773.702.1000
uchospitals.edu

The center is divided into units for specific types of care for different cardiovascular problems, including heart failure and transplantation. One of the most highly specialized is the molecular cardiology clinic, which focuses on the genetic nature of heart disorders.

21 CARDIAC & VASCULAR CENTER

University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora, Colo., 720.848.5300
uch.edu

In a 2007 procedure, Drs. James Chen and John Carroll used a 3-D model of a patient’s coronary artery and physical models of the arterial tree and heart to plan and complete a repair of that patient’s atrial septal defect (an opening between the two chambers of the heart).

22 U-M CARDIOVASCULAR CENTER

University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Mich., 888.287.1082
med.umich.edu

U-M researchers are experimenting with an innovative treatment that uses gene therapy to produce proteins that help the heart contract.

23 DIVISION OF CARDIOTHORACIC SURGERY

University of Utah Hospital & Clinics, Salt Lake City, 801.581.5311
healthcare.utah.edu

The hospital employs several new techniques, including off-pump coronary artery bypass and, for patients slated for a single bypass, less invasive endoscopic procedures.

24 VANDERBILT HEART INSTITUTE

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn., 615.322.500
vanderbilthealth.com

As one of the nine research hubs of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium in 2009, Vanderbilt will receive about $8.4 million to study cardiac stem cells, which will be used to help the heart regenerate post-surgery.

25 HEART & VASCULAR CENTER

Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn., 203.688.4242,
ynhh.org

Yale doctors performed the first heart transplant in 1984 and, in 1992, the first successful heart transplant using an unmatched donor heart.

Castle Connolly Medical is a healthcare research and information company founded in 1991 by a former medical college board chairman and president to help guide consumers to America's top doctors and hospitals. Castle Connolly's physician-led research department’s selection of these 25 hospitals was based on factors such as the number of affiliated doctors in thoracic surgery selected as Castle Connolly Top Doctors, and various state and national “outcome” measures and quality rankings of medical centers and hospitals for coronary artery bypass surgery. In no way does Castle Connolly intend this listing to infer, imply or be construed as an indication that these are the only outstanding hospitals for this surgery; many other excellent hospitals of national and regional reputation are also available for this surgery, and consumers should always discuss their medical decisions with their own personal physician.