Baptist Health’s Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute Marks 35 Years of Innovation

MIAMI, FL – October 21, 2022 – Baptist Health’s Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute is celebrating 35 years of bringing some of the most innovative heart care to the residents of South Florida. What started as two windowless rooms tucked behind Baptist Hospital’s Emergency Center is now home to the largest and most comprehensive cardiovascular facility in the region. Patients experience consistent, exceptional, evidence-based care at institute locations throughout Baptist Health.

“As we have when we first started this program back in 1987, from our physicians to the entire MCVI staff, we are constantly striving for the best treatments, so our heart and vascular patients are able to have quality outcomes,” said Barry Katzen, M.D. founder and chief medical executive of Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute. “I am proud of the work we have achieved and have no doubt we will continue to find ways of providing our community top-notch care for the next 35 years and beyond.”

Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute started with just two procedure rooms when it first opened. However, over the years, the institute has expanded significantly, with several additions, including a peripheral vascular lab, and a cardiac catheterization room. In 2001, the institute grew with the addition of 51 inpatient, and 32 outpatient beds. In 2017, the institute underwent a $120 million renovation to maximize its multidisciplinary collaboration and new approaches to cardiovascular care. These services were then integrated at South Miami Hospital, West Kendall Baptist Hospital, Homestead Hospital, Doctors Hospital and Mariners Hospital. This allows the institute to develop high-quality cardiac and vascular care at all Baptist Health facilities throughout South Florida.

The institute is bringing the same excellence to our outpatient facilities under the leadership of Jonathan Fialkow, MD and MCVI Cardiology. This created multiple specialized cardiology care centers including programs for atrial fibrillation, structural heart, heart failure, and prevention.

The institute has been at the forefront when it comes to research and clinical trials resulting in many ‘firsts’, resulting in multiple scientific publications. A few examples include:

• Participation in the very first vascular stent trial in the United States and performing the first peripheral stent graft.
• Performing the first Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS) stent procedure in the United States, to avoid surgery for internal bleeding
• Performing the 5^th procedure in the country to treat aortic aneurysms with less invasive techniques
• Becoming the first medical center in Florida to use a new system to create a small surgical passage through the atrial septum with Ramon Quesada M.D. medical director of the Structural Heart and Complex Percutaneous Coronary Intervention program.
• Joseph McGinn Jr., M.D., the institute’s chief of cardiac surgery, continues to attract worldwide attention for his minimally invasive coronary bypass surgery, eliminating the need to cut open a patient’s chest or stop the heart during bypass surgery, greatly reducing pain and recovery time. This is known as the McGinn Technique, as pioneered by Joseph McGinn, the institute’s chief of cardiac surgery. This innovative surgery is currently performed routinely in only a handful of American hospitals but is headed to becoming tomorrow’s standard of care.
• Pivotal advances in treating or replacing heart valves, many of them initiated as part of clinical trials, have been performed at the institute for years, and they continue at a steady pace. For example, the institute was the first in Florida, and the first in the Atlantic Southeast, to perform a so-called LIVE (Less Invasive Ventricular Enhancement), a minimally invasive procedure that “reshapes” the heart by reducing the size of the left ventricle, allowing a seriously ill patient to approach normal functionality.
• Our vascular team is involved in a trial to better treat patients with life-threatening blood clots in the lungs. The trial is being headed up by Ripal Gandhi, M.D. interventional radiologist.
• The institute is the only center in Florida taking part in a clinical trial that uses a new device to relieve painful circulatory problems in the legs. The VenoValve is surgically implanted into the femoral vein in the thigh to act as a one-way valve to help restore proper blood flow.
• Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute is also one of the first medical centers in the country to implement a new technology — super-saturated oxygen (SSO2) therapy— which can help save the lives of those who suffer a so-called “widow-maker” heart attack. SSO2 therapy delivers hyperbaric levels of oxygen directly to the heart via a catheter to help prevent damage to the heart muscle.

Baptist Health’s Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute’s multidisciplinary team of leading physicians represents the complete spectrum of cardiovascular care. Trained at some of the country’s finest facilities and pioneers of some of today’s newest technologies and techniques, these experienced professionals represent a brain trust of cardiovascular expertise.

About Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute

Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute is the largest and most comprehensive cardiovascular facility in the region. The institute is part of Baptist Health South Florida, the largest healthcare organization in the region, with 12 hospitals, more than 25,000 employees, 4,000 physicians and 100 outpatient centers, urgent care facilities and physician practices spanning across Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward and Palm Beach counties. In addition to cardiovascular care, Baptist Health has internationally renowned centers of excellence in cancer, orthopedics and sports medicine, and neurosciences. It also includes Baptist Health Medical Group; Baptist Health Quality Network; and Baptist Health Care On Demand, a virtual health platform. A not-for-profit organization supported by philanthropy and committed to its faith-based charitable mission of medical excellence, Baptist Health has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America and by Ethisphere as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. For more information, visit BaptistHealth.net/Newsroom and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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