The Texas Heart Institute
Encyclopedia
Texas Medical Center
The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical center in the world with one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research...
in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. Founded in 1962 by Dr. Denton A. Cooley, its original charter stated its purpose was “the study and treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Today, the Institute’s mission is to reduce the devastating toll of cardiovascular disease through innovative programs in research, education, and improved patient care. The Texas Heart Institute and its clinical partner, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital serves as the lead hospital for St. Luke's Episcopal Health System, and is based at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. St. Luke's Episcopal Health System also includes St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, St. Luke's The Woodlands Hospital, St. Luke's Sugar Land...
, have become one of the nation's largest cardiovascular centers. Its 160-member professional staff have performed more than 100,000 open heart operations, 200,000 cardiac catheterizations, and 1,000 heart transplants. In 2010, in its annual survey of “America's Best Hospitals,” U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
ranked the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital number 4 in the United States for heart care, making this its 20th consecutive year as one of the top 10 heart centers in the country.
History
1967 – Ground is broken on June 26 for the St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital expansion program for the Texas Heart Institute and a 28-story patient tower.
1972 – Eight new operating suites are opened for surgery, three of which have overhead viewing galleries, or “domes,” for teaching purposes.
1974 – Clayton Research Cardiac Catheterization Labs are opened.
1976 – The first accredited School of Perfusion Technology in the United States is opened.
1977 – Electrophysiology laboratories are opened.
1978 – Institute surgeons perform the first bridge-to-transplant procedure, wherein a left ventricular assist device is used to support the patient until a donor heart becomes available for transplantation.
1980 – Two more operating suites are opened for surgery.
1981 – Institute surgeons perform the second implantation in the world of an artificial heart in a human.
1983 – “Skybreaking” ceremony on December 13 officially begins the construction phase of an expansion plan to add four new floors.
1991 – Patient with a portable, battery-powered left ventricular assist device becomes the first in the world to leave the hospital with his device.
1998 – Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is chosen as one of six centers where cardiac magnetic resonance imaging trials are performed.
1999 – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the use of a stent graft for the repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms; the device was tested exclusively at the Texas Heart Institute.
2000 – The Texas Heart Institute becomes the first site for clinical trials of the Jarvik 2000, a miniature, axial flow left ventricular assist device.
2001 – Institute surgeons perform the 100,000th open heart operation at the Texas Heart Institute.
- – Dr. O.H. Frazier implants the AbioCor total artificial heart in a patient as part of a clinical trial of the device.
2002 – The dedication of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital–The Denton A. Cooley Building takes place.
2003 – The Texas Heart Institute becomes the first nationally ranked cardiovascular center in the United States to open a simulation training laboratory for cardiac catheterization procedures.
2004 – The Texas Heart Institute begins the first FDA-approved clinical trial in the United States of adult stem cell therapy for the treatment of congestive heart failure.
2006 – Institute surgeons perform the 1000th heart transplant procedure at the Texas Heart Institute.
2007 – The National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
selects the Texas Heart Institute as one of five centers for a stem cell study consortium.
2008 – The Texas Heart Institute receives a grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new total artificial heart that will comprise 2 small, continuous flow ventricular assist devices—the first total artificial heart of its kind.
2008 – Dr. James T. Willerson assumes the role of president of the Texas Heart Institute, effective August 1.
Research
The Stem Cell Center of the Texas Heart Institute was first in the United States to receive FDA approval for an adult stem cell clinical trial to treat patients with advanced heart failure. In addition, the Texas Heart Institute was one of five centers selected by the National Institutes of Health to study stem cell treatmentsStem cell treatments
Stem cell treatments are a type of intervention strategy that introduces new cells into damaged tissue in order to treat disease or injury. Many medical researchers believe that stem cell treatments have the potential to change the face of human disease and alleviate suffering...
for patients with cardiovascular disease. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is a division of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland...
has provided a $33.7 million to support these centers in a new national consortium called the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network.
Physician scientists at the Texas Heart Institute have amassed the world’s greatest experience in the development and use of ventricular assist devices (VADs) to sustain the failing circulation in patients with severe heart failure. More than a dozen different VADs are being studied in clinical trials conducted by the Center for Cardiac Support at the Texas Heart Institute, and more are under development in preclinical studies. A key area of research in the field of VADs is the concept of heart failure “remission,” or the use of a VAD to support a patient’s heart, thus giving the heart time to heal and recover normal function. Over the last three years, seven patients supported long term with a HeartMate II VAD have achieved remission, allowing for the removal of their devices. Researchers are also working on the development of a small total artificial heart
Artificial heart
An artificial heart is a mechanical device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used in order to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in case transplantation is impossible...
that would deliver blood by continuous flow rather than pulsation.
Medical firsts
Many firsts have been achieved by cardiologists and surgeons at the Texas Heart Institute.- First successful heart transplant procedure in the United States.
- First implantation in the world of an artificial heart in a human.
- First removal of an aneurysmAneurysmAn aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...
of the aorta. - First successful carotid endarterectomy in the world.
- First removal of an aneurysm that forms in the left ventricle.
- First bypass to reroute blood flow around a congenital defect in a coronary artery.
- First use of a liquid sugar solution rather than blood to prime the heart-lung machineHeart-lung machineCardiopulmonary bypass is a technique that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery, maintaining the circulation of blood and the oxygen content of the body. The CPB pump itself is often referred to as a heart–lung machine or "the pump"...
. This allowed the first open heart operations on Jehovah’s Witnesses, whose religion does not allow them to receive blood or blood products. - First study of an implantable left ventricular assist device for postcardiotomy support, with funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
- Early development of fabric grafts.
- Development of the Cooley-Cutter heart valve.
- First laser angioplasty procedure in the United States.
- First laser coronary endarterectomy procedure in the United States.
- First implantation of the HeartMate pneumatically (air) powered left ventricular assist device as a bridge to heart transplantation.
- First implantation of a HeartMate II left ventricular assist device in the United States.
- First implantation of an abdominal aortic stent graft using only local anesthesia.
- First in Texas to use a medicine-coated stent designed to prevent re-narrowing of the coronary arteries.
- One of the first sites in the United States (and the first in Houston) to test the Intuitive surgical robot for use in operations.
- First FDA-approved clinical trial in the United States of adult stem cell therapy for the treatment of congestive heart failure.
Educational Programs
The Texas Heart Institute has a number of educational programs that may be of benefit to physicians and lay persons who are interested in learning more about heart disease.The Center for Cardiac Support developed a course to train health care professionals in the use of the various cardiac support technologies. Through lectures, discussions, case presentations, and laboratory exercises, course participants will learn the best treatment options for their patients who require cardiac support. The course is delivered by staff from the Texas Heart Institute’s Center for Cardiac Support. The staff’s extensive experience in the field and the Texas Heart Institute’s state-of-the-art facilities provide a unique educational opportunity for participants.
Institute physicians and scientists publish approximately 300 scientific manuscripts every year in medical journals that are indexed via PubMed. The Texas Heart Institute Journal, a quarterly medical journal received by 45 000 cardiovascular physicians internationally, can be accessed via PubMed and the PubMed Central website. Heart Watch, a quarterly scientific bulletin is available in English and Spanish versions. In addition, a Library and Learning Resource Center is available to THI health professionals and researchers for accessing electronic systems and print publications that contain information about cardiovascular disease.
THI has a variety of postdoctoral programs. Each year, 100 heart specialists improve their knowledge and skills through participation in these programs, which have been instrumental in the training of more than 2600 heart specialists from 44 states and 47 countries.
Continuing Medical Education provides online programs designed to keep physicians from throughout the world up-to-date with the latest information on the prevention and treatment of heart disease. The website offers physicians, scientists, and health care professionals the opportunity to view and receive free credit for online symposia, cardiology grand rounds, courses in ethics and heart sounds auscultation, and case studies in peripheral vascular disease, electrophysiology, and echocardiography.
The Heart Information Center (HIC) is a free, heart-health information resource for patients and the public. The facility, comprising a library of print and multimedia resources and computer workstations with Internet access, is located on the first floor of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital–The Denton A. Cooley Building. The HIC also provides assistance to the public via e-mail and telephone inquiries and an extensive website resource offering more than 150 heart-health topics in both English and Spanish.
The Project Heart website, a resource for teachers, parents, and students, extends the HIC outreach to the virtual classroom. With complete lesson plans for kindergarten through 6th grade, the site provides educators with activities to teach heart anatomy, good nutrition, and a healthy lifestyle. All materials comply with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills criteria.
Location
The Texas Heart Institute is located in the Denton A. Cooley Building, adjacent to its clinical partner, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, within the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. The 327,000-square foot, 10-story Cooley Building was designed for four primary purposes—patient care, research, education, and clinical treatment. There are twelve 650 square feet (60.4 m²) operating rooms devoted exclusively to heart procedures and three floors of specialized patient care rooms.Two floors of the Cooley Building are devoted to the molecular and cellular study (basic scientific research) of cardiovascular disease. One of those floors is used collaboratively by The University of Texas system for cardiovascular research.
A helistop is located on the roof of the building, which increases the efficiency of emergency patient care and the heart transplant program.