BY LINDSEY DANIEL, ANNE MAKEEVER
From the earliest understanding of the body’s circulatory system to today’s groundbreaking treatments, the practice of heart and vascular medicine has continuously evolved in the search for new and better ways to protect and preserve the heart’s essential functions. Specialists at the Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Heart & Vascular Center are at the vanguard of this evolution, discovering new treatments and advancing compassionate care.
Follow the evolution
1950s-1960s | 1980s | 1990s | Early 2000s | 2020s
A First “First”
In 1947, WashU Medicine established its first cardiology program at what was then Barnes Hospital and is now Barnes-Jewish Hospital. This is the first in a long list of “firsts” that includes research breakthroughs, innovative technology, and new surgical techniques that have changed the face of heart and vascular medicine.
Photo courtesy of Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis
WHEN: 1950s-1960s
- - Barnes Hospital offers St. Louis the first heart-lung bypass machine.
Photo courtesy of WashU Medicine Bernard Becker Library
- - WashU Medicine surgeons at Barnes Hospital perform the region’s first cardiopulmonary bypass procedure.
- - Working at Barnes Hospital, a team of WashU Medicine surgeons is the third in the U.S. to perform open-heart surgery using heart-lung bypass technology.
- - Barnes Hospital and Jewish Hospital (now Barnes-Jewish Hospital) open the first cardiac intensive care units in St. Louis (and some of the first in the U.S.), complete with the latest technology.
IMPACT: These advances usher in the modern era of cardiac surgery.
WHEN: 1980s
- - WashU Medicine’s Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology develops the first positron emission tomography (PET) scanner specifically designed to determine the extent of a patient’s heart damage.
- - WashU Medicine chemist Jack Ladenson, PhD, and colleagues develop the first blood test to confirm the occurrence of a heart attack, thus enabling specialists to improve care.
- - Working at Barnes Hospital, a team of WashU Medicine heart specialists is the first in the world to use a new drug called tPA to dissolve blood clots in coronary arteries. Now, for the first time, it is possible to halt the progression of a heart attack.
Photos courtesy of WashU Medicine Bernard Becker Library
- - WashU Medicine’s R. Morton “Ralph” Bollman, III, MD, and colleagues launch Barnes Hospital’s heart transplant program.
- - Gregorio Sicard, MD, WashU Medicine vascular surgeon, promotes a form of endovascular repair that is a less invasive option than open surgery to prevent aortic rupture. The new procedure is considered one of the most important advances in vascular surgery.
Photo courtesy of Barnes-Jewish Hospital
- - Working at Barnes Hospital, James Cox, MD, and John Boineau, MD, WashU Medicine heart specialists, perfect electrical mapping of the heart. This advance makes possible a surgical innovation called Cox-Maze, which becomes the gold standard for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.
IMPACT: New technologies and innovative surgical procedures allow WashU Medicine specialists at Barnes Hospital and Jewish Hospital to offer advanced treatments designed to improve and save lives.
WHEN: 1990s
- - Jewish Hospital installs the Midwest’s first dedicated cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, allowing noninvasive visualization of the heart’s structure and function.
- - Working at the newly formed Barnes-Jewish Hospital, WashU Medicine cardiothoracic surgeon Ralph Damiano Jr., MD, is the first surgeon to perform a minimally invasive heart procedure using robotics technology, which can offer greater precision, faster healing, and fewer complications.
Photo courtesy of Barnes-Jewish Hospital
IMPACT: This decade begins the age of minimally invasive surgery and robotics technology, offering patients fewer complications, reduced pain, and less time spent in recovery.
WHEN: Early 2000s
- - Ralph Damiano Jr., MD, WashU Medicine cardiothoracic surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, refines the Cox-Maze procedure. His innovation, called Cox-Maze IV, remains one of the few FDA-approved surgical procedures for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.
- - John Lasala, MD, PhD, WashU Medicine cardiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, is one of the first 10 physicians in the world to perform a minimally invasive, transcatheter, edge-to-edge repair procedure to treat mitral regurgitation. WashU Medicine researchers participated in clinical trials evaluating this procedure.
- - A team of WashU Medicine heart specialists at Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the first in St. Louis and one of the first in the U.S. to perform transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a minimally invasive procedure that replaces an aortic valve without open-heart surgery.
Photo courtesy of Barnes-Jewish Hospital
- - Working at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a team of WashU Medicine cardiology and radiation oncology specialists pioneers a groundbreaking, non-invasive treatment called cardiac radioablation. It is used to treat heart-rhythm disorders.
Photo by Gregg Goldman
- - A team of WashU Medicine cardiovascular surgeons at Barnes-Jewish Hospital perform the first endovascular aortic arch repair procedure in the U. The procedure is part of an FDA-approved trial to evaluate a new approach to treating aortic arch aneurysms and dissections.
WHEN: 2020s
- - Alan Zajarias, MD, WashU Medicine interventional cardiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and a team of heart surgeons, are the third in the world to complete a successful transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement.
- - After WashU Medicine researchers participated in clinical trials evaluating a new drug, mavacamten, to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the Heart & Vascular Center is the first in the region to use mavacamten to treat patients.
- - Jasvindar Singh, MD, WashU Medicine cardiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, was among the first in the Midwest to perform renal denervation as a treatment for resistant hypertension, a condition that doesn’t respond to medication.
- - Tsuyoshi Kaneko, MD, WashU Medicine heart surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, performs the region’s first mitral valve procedure using robotics technology.
Photo courtesy of Barnes-Jewish Hospital
IMPACT: Heart and vascular care continues to advance, thanks to groundbreaking clinical trials and further refinement of minimally invasive surgery and robotics technology. This new phase of care makes treatment possible for even more people— including those who at one time might have been too sick for traditional, open surgery.
What's Next?
In 2025, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, in collaboration with WashU Medicine, is further advancing patient care by opening the new Plaza West Tower. This state-of-the-art, 16-story facility continues the hospital’s long history of moving medicine forward to deliver the extraordinary care patients deserve.
Plaza West Tower, specifically designed to promote health and healing, offers:
- - Seven floors of private, inpatient rooms
- - Two floors of intensive care units
- - Two floors of advanced imaging technology
- - Two floors for surgery prep and recovery
- - Thoughtful design that emphasizes comfort for patients and their loved ones
Architectural renderings courtesy of BJC HealthCare; Photo courtesy of Barnes-Jewish Hospital
IMPACT: People receiving care from specialists at the Heart & Vascular Center in the new Plaza West Tower will experience faster healing and reduced stress in an environment designed to provide comfort, dignity, and respect for all.