Heart & Vascular Surgery

When surgery is your best treatment option, entrust your heart to the experts at Ballad Health. You’ll benefit from board-certified thoracic (chest) surgeons and experienced nurses trained in the latest and best ways of caring for you and proudly serving East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

Cardiac surgical treatments

Depending on your condition and overall health, your doctor may recommend:

• Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) that lets blood flow around blocked vessels
• Transmyocardial revascularization, which creates tiny channels in the heart muscle to let more blood flow through and reduce chest pain
• Heart valve repair or replacement to help blood flow properly through the heart
• Heart rhythm disorders treatment, including implantation of a cardioverter defibrillator or pacemaker
• Ventricular assist device placement to treat heart failure
• Repair of atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect or another heart problem you were born with

Robotic-assisted cardiac surgery

Depending on your condition, your surgeon might recommend robotic-assisted surgery for your procedure.

Robotic-assisted cardiac surgery uses the da Vinci® surgical system, which offers better outcomes and shorter hospital stays when compared to traditional surgery.

Your surgeon controls the da Vinci surgical robot whose tools move more precisely, steadily and fully than human hands. Da Vinci procedures use smaller incisions (cuts in the skin) than traditional open surgery, so you’ll feel less pain after treatment, have smaller scars and recover faster.

Ask about the da Vinci approach to surgery if you need:

• Pericardial window to drain fluid from around your heart
• Removal of a cyst on the pericardium, or the tissue around your heart
• Bypass surgery on just one heart artery

Recognized for excellence in CABG

You can trust Johnson City Medical Center’s quality of care because the hospital holds certification in coronary artery bypass graft surgery from The Joint Commission. That means you can expect highly qualified staff who help you stay safe and get the best possible results from surgery.

Cardiac step-down unit & critical care

Depending on your health and the procedure, you might benefit from a Ballad Health hospital’s cardiac step-down unit or critical care unit in the hours after surgery. At either location, caregivers will closely, continually watch over you to make sure you stay as well as possible.

Cardiac rehabilitation

After surgery, cardiac rehabilitation helps you safely regain strength and endurance and reduce your risk of future heart conditions.

Vascular surgery

Restore oxygen-rich blood flow through a wide range of vascular surgeries that restore proper flow of clogged or weakened veins and arteries.