History of Innovations

The UVa Heart and Vascular Center was among the first centers in the country to:

  • Establish a coronary intensive care unit - CCU
  • Implant permanent pacemakers and automatic defibrillators
  • Provide angioplasty to open obstructed coronary arteries
  • Use stents to prevent restenosis and abrupt reclosure after angioplasty
  • Pioneer myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) to detect coronary artery disease in its earliest stages
  • Provide Enhanced External Counterpulsation therapy (EECP)
  • Perform renal angioplasty

We were also the first in Virginia to:

  • Perform open heart and arrhythmia surgery
  • Offer nuclear cardiology testing
  • Assess heart function with two-dimensional echocardiography
  • Receive Medicare approval for both heart and lung transplants
  • Perform both single and double lung transplantation

We continue to remain at the forefront of cardiovascular medicine:

  • Annually, UVa Heart and Vascular Center cares for:
    • Over 5,000 inpatients and 30,000 patients in its ambulatory clinics
    • And annually performs over 14,000 Non-Invasive diagnostic studies, 4,000 Catheterization and Electrophysiology procedures, and 1,700 cardiovascular surgeries
  • UVa Heart Center protocols exceed national standards in rapid response time for acute symptoms of heart disease and failure
    • UVa's Chest Pain Center is the region's first accredited facility in the region. 
  • Our in-patient surveys reflect a higher patient satisfaction level than national benchmarks in all categories
  • We have the largest cardiopulmonary organ transplant program in Virginia, and our transplant survival rates exceed the national average