Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute

August 23, 2012

Multiple procedures, devices help heart patient pull through

After Stacey Browning, R.N., a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit charge nurse, got a report on a heart attack patient who was being transported to her unit from an outside hospital, her immediate thought was, “They are sending us a patient we are not going to be able to recover.”

By Kathy Whitney

August 16, 2012

Town hall meeting outlines Heart Institute’s busy year

The Department of Cardiac Surgery experienced its highest case volume to date with 1,245 adult cardiac surgeries at Vanderbilt University Hospital during the last fiscal year, according to department chair John Byrne, M.D., who spoke at Vanderbilt Heart’s quarterly town hall on Friday.

By Kathy Whitney

August 9, 2012

Time was critical for new mother’s heart surgery

Two weeks after giving birth to her second child on July 10, 31-year-old Samantha Neal began to experience chest pain. Initially diagnosed with a gall bladder issue in her local ER, her true diagnosis would prove much more serious and potentially life-threatening.