The Texas Heart Institute - Medical Firsts

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 aneurysm 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 machine. 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.