Among the largest cardiology programs in the country, the Duke Division of Cardiology includes more than 140 full-time faculty, 40 cardiovascular fellows, 50 nurse practitioners/physician assistants and registered nurses, and a full team of dedicated health care staff, who together provide care to thousands of patients annually.
Duke is consistently ranked among the nation’s best in heart and heart surgery by U.S. News and World Report.
"Firsts" in Cardiovascular Medicine at Duke
- First institution to use systemic hypothermia during cardiac surgery — now a standard procedure worldwide
- Invention of the first bioabsorbable coronary stent
- First development and use of a coronary artery transluminal extraction catheter (TEC) to clear blocked arteries in patients with angina
- First use in the Southeast of a technique called transmyocardial revascularization to induce new blood vessel growth in ischemic heart muscle
- First use of the "Heart Port" minimally invasive coronary bypass and mitral valve repair in the Southeast
- Development of the first perfusion balloon angioplasty catheter and testing in patients with coronary artery disease
- Development and first use of the Anstadt System for circulatory support to keep a dying patient alive until a donor heart became available for transplant