For generations, patients with serious heart problems have turned to Johns Hopkins physicians for help. Recognized worldwide, Hopkins cardiologists and cardiac surgeons provide comprehensive care of the highest quality, ensuring that patients receive the most advanced treatments known to medicine.
There’s a good chance the heart disease treatments of which you’re most aware were created at Hopkins. In 1944, Hopkins pediatric cardiologist Helen Taussig, surgeon Alfred Blalock and his technician, Vivien Thomas, developed the “blue baby” operation to repair the hearts of infants born with a previously fatal congenital defect that left them blue from oxygen deficiency. Hopkins physicians and researchers went on to develop cardiac defibrillators to correct heartbeat irregularities and to devise cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Hopkins research was the first to show that tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), a clot-busting medication, could improve heart function following a heart attack. Hopkins scientists played a critical role in starting the field of clinical genetics by mapping the genes associated with Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that usually causes heart problems.
Hopkins’ pioneering tradition continues today. Groundbreaking research led to creation of the first biological pacemaker, hailed by the American Heart Association as one of the top 10 advances in heart research. By using gene therapy, Hopkins researchers succeeded in converting a small number of guinea pigs’ heart muscle cells into “pacing” cells that would “fire” when scientists genetically altered the cells’ potassium balance, enabling them to develop the biological pacemaker.
Scientists at Hopkins also have succeeded in isolating and growing cardiac stem cells by using heart tissue obtained from adult patients during biopsies. They are planning studies in which they will reintroduce those cells into the same patients to attempt to re-grow tissue and regenerate their failing hearts.
Collaborating with the Gerontology Research Center, Hopkins cardiologists developed a new type of coronary-artery stent. Unlike the original stent, which acts as a scaffold to keep clogged arteries open, the new stent can also deliver drugs that prevent reblockage and scarring. Drug-delivering stents offer better long-term results for angioplasty patients and may eliminate the need for bypass surgery.
As part of a major initiative to revolutionize care for cardiac patients in the 21st Century, Johns Hopkins Medicine is establishing The Johns Hopkins Heart Institute. The new Heart Institute aims to do nothing less than change the way medicine is practiced. To help provide the resources and guidance needed to make this vision a reality, Hopkins has assembled an outstanding group of forward-thinking leaders and researchers.
Within the new Cardiovascular & Critical Care Tower, state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic services will be integrated seamlessly. Patients will experience personalized medical care in a high tech environment, while having the advantage of the research and education assets unique to Hopkins.
Richard A. Lange, M.D. and Joshua Hare, M.D. on Cardiology
