Heart, Lung, and Vascular

UT Southwestern Medical Center is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading heart disease treatment centers. By combining attentive, compassionate care with our extensive clinical and research resources, we provide patients with individualized care within an environment that is home to one of the pre-eminent health-care facilities. 

Our team has been the first in many heart, lung and vascular breakthroughs, including:

1. The first statin drug to lower cholesterol levels in people at risk for cardiovascular disease was developed at UT Southwestern, based on the Nobel-prize winning research of faculty members Dr. Joseph Goldstein and Dr. Michael Brown.
2. UT Southwestern researchers were the first to discover that antioxidants help prevent arteriosclerosis, including defining the variety of foods that are harmful to cardiovascular health as well as proving that antioxidants in diets help prevent arteriosclerosis.
3. Vascular surgeons performed the first deep-vein reconstruction in the world in 1991 and the first aortic stent graft procedure in the Southwest in 1995.

UT Southwestern’s heart, lung and vascular program receives support from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Our physicians and researchers have made invaluable contributions to discovering the links between genetics and heart, lung and vascular diseases, the importance of the liver in ridding the body of cholesterol and the development of rapid cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for revealing heart injury through motion pictures of the beating heart.

UT Southwestern’s pulmonary clinical practice includes an adult-care cystic fibrosis program, which is accredited by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and participates in the care provided to cystic fibrosis patients awaiting lung transplants.

We have one of the largest academic physician practices in the nation, and are a major referral center for patients with the most complex heart, lung and vascular diseases. They benefit from UT Southwestern’s advanced technologies in imaging, expertise in performing minimally invasive surgery, and a reputation as a leader in treating heart, lung and vascular conditions. Our cardiologists treat 600 patients every month and annually perform more than 1,000 diagnostic angiogram procedures to locate circulatory problems.

Personalized attention to patients and their specific conditions, coupled with advanced health-care resources, enables UT Southwestern to make a significant difference in patients’ health and outlook on the future.