Heart Care

Innovative, outstanding heart care is a hallmark of the West Penn Allegheny Health System. For more than a half century, our physicians have been on the forefront of treatment and clinical research not only in the region, but in the nation. From open heart bypass procedures, to transplants, to valve replacement, and advanced methods of diagnosing heart conditions, the doctors and researchers of our member institutions have helped lead the way to better outcomes for heart patients.

Our physicians conducted the nation's first echocardiogram, it's first bilateral ventricular assist procedure, and its first operation using back muscle to help a diseased heart beat. They did Pennsylvania's first heart-valve replacement, opened the state's first freestanding outpatient cardiac catheterization laboratory, and conducted Pittsburgh's first FDA-approved ventricular-assist device implant.

The formation of WPAHS brought together two of the region's largest heart programs -- The Gerald McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute at Allegheny General and the Cardiovascular Institute of The Western Pennsylvania Hospital. This has created one of the largest and most experienced heart care resources in the United States, with a combined volume of over 2,000 open heart and more than 8,000 heart catheterization procedures each year.

Among the advanced capabilities offered by the system are "off-pump" open heart surgery, which permits the heart to continue beating during an operation, transmyocardial revascularization (TMR), a laser surgery technique which relieves the pain of angina in patients who are not candidates for angioplasty or bypass surgery, video-assisted minimally invasive bypass surgery, and new applications for artificial hearts in order to rest and repair failing hearts.