Division of Cardiac Surgery

Our Division

Welcome to the Division of Cardiac Surgery of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Ranked 13th in the nation for heart and heart surgery programs by U.S. News and World Report, the Division of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine's Department of Surgery is widely respected throughout the nation as an innovator and leader. The division's success is built upon three main areas: education, research, and clinical care through Feinberg-affiliated hospitals.

Learn more about our work via the links below.

Education
Learn about our fellowship program as well as our other contributions to the education of future leaders in our field
Research
Discover our areas of focus in research
Patient Care
Connect with our affiliated care sites
Faculty
Meet our faculty members
About Us
Connect with our office; meet our chief

Meet our Faculty

Carl Backer, MD

Professor of Surgery (Cardiac Surgery)

See All Faculty

Message from the Chief

Read message from the Chief, Patrick M. McCarthy, MD

News

05.17.2016Evaluating an Alternative to Open-Heart Surgery
11.13.2014The 25th Annual Arthur DeBoer, MD Visiting Professor Lectureship

Recent Publications

Aortic valve-mediated wall shear stress is heterogeneous and predicts regional aortic elastic fiber thinning in bicuspid aortic valve-associated aortopathy.
Bollache E,… Malaisrie SC …
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2018 Jun 12. pii: S0022-5223(18)31531-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2018.05.095. [Epub ahead of print]
Assessing wall stresses in bicuspid aortic valve-associated aortopathy: Forecasting the perfect storm?
Barker AJ, Markl M, Fedak PWM.
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2018 Aug;156(2):471-472. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2018.03.092. Epub 2018 Mar 31. No abstract available.
Aortic Valve Replacement in an Era of Rapid Innovation: Better the Devil You Know.
Fedak PWM, Bhatt DL, Verma S.
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2018 Apr 3;71(13):1413-1416. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2018.02.007. No abstract available.
Brom Aortoplasty for Supravalvular Aortic Stenosis.
Mongé MC, Eltayeb OM, Costello JM, Johnson JT, Popescu AR, Rigsby CK, Backer CL.
World J Pediatr Congenit Heart Surg. 2018 Mar;9(2):139-146. doi: 10.1177/2150135118754520.
Burden of preoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.
Malaisrie SC, McCarthy PM, Kruse J, Matsouaka R, Andrei AC, Grau-Sepulveda MV, Friedman DJ, Cox JL, Brennan JM.
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2018 Jun;155(6):2358-2367.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2018.01.069. Epub 2018 Feb 9.
Causes and Consequences of Missing Health-Related Quality of Life Assessments in Patients Who Undergo Mechanical Circulatory Support Implantation: Insights From INTERMACS (Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support).
Grady KL,… Grady KL …
Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2017 Dec;10(12):e003268. doi: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.116.003268.
Pediatric Heart Transplantation: Transitioning to Adult Care (TRANSIT): Baseline Findings.
Grady KL,… Grady KL …
Pediatr Cardiol. 2018 Feb;39(2):354-364. doi: 10.1007/s00246-017-1763-x. Epub 2017 Nov 3.
Prothrombin Complex Concentrate Reduces Blood Product Utilization in Heart Transplantation.
Enter DH,… Malaisrie SC … Pham DT …
Pharmacotherapy. 2017 Oct;37(10):1215-1220. doi: 10.1002/phar.2015.
Unusual Complication of the Nuss Procedure: Fistulization of the Internal Thoracic Artery to the Pulmonary Artery.
Mongé MC, Wax D, Barsness K.
World J Pediatr Congenit Heart Surg. 2017 Jan 1:2150135117696493. doi: 10.1177/2150135117696493. [Epub ahead of print]
Evolution of Precision Medicine and Surgical Strategies for Bicuspid Aortic Valve-Associated Aortopathy.
Fatehi Hassanabad A, Barker AJ, Guzzardi D, Markl M, Malaisrie C, McCarthy PM, Fedak PWM.
Front Physiol. 2017 Jul 10;8:475. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00475. eCollection 2017.
The ICD and Shared Decision Making: Nothing Is Ever Easy.
Goetz PW, Grady KL, Yancy CW.
J Card Fail. 2017 Nov;23(11):800-801. doi: 10.1016/j.cardfail.2017.05.012. Epub 2017 May 22. No abstract available.
Single leaflet reconstruction of pulmonic valve with decellurized bovine pericardium.
Tomasko JM, Rankin JS, Malaisrie SC.
Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2017 Jun 1;24(6):969-971. doi: 10.1093/icvts/ivx015.
Creating a 90° curve in polyester grafts during thoracic aortic surgery using the pleat technique.
Campo JJ, Yamashita MH, Malaisrie SC.
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2017 Aug;154(2):414-416. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2016.12.052. Epub 2017 Feb 12. No abstract available.
Put a ring on it?
Backer CL, Mongé MC.
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2017 Jul;154(1):212-213. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2017.01.012. Epub 2017 Feb 2. No abstract available.
Bicuspid aortic valve aortopathy: mechanistic and clinical insights from recent studies.
Guzzardi DG, Verma S, Fedak PW.
Curr Opin Cardiol. 2017 Mar;32(2):111-116. doi: 10.1097/HCO.0000000000000359. Review.
Successful Bridge-to-Transplant of Functionally Univentricular Patients With a Modified Continuous-Flow Ventricular Assist Device.
Mongé MC, Kulat BT, Eltayeb O, Zingle NR, Moss ST, Gossett JG, Pahl E, Costello JM, Backer CL.
Artif Organs. 2017 Jan;41(1):25-31. doi: 10.1111/aor.12881.
Biatrial or Left Atrial Lesion Set for Ablation During Mitral Surgery: Risks and Benefits.
Churyla A, Iddriss A, Andrei AC, Kruse J, Malaisrie SC, Passman R, Li Z, Lee R, McCarthy PM.
Ann Thorac Surg. 2017 Jun;103(6):1858-1865. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2016.10.017. Epub 2016 Dec 22.
Scallops, fenestrations, CHIMPS, and other monkey business.
Malaisrie SC.
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2016 Nov;152(5):1229. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2016.07.037. Epub 2016 Jul 28. No abstract available.
Concomitant atrial fibrillation surgery for people undergoing cardiac surgery.
Huffman MD, Karmali KN, Berendsen MA, Andrei AC, Kruse J, McCarthy PM, Malaisrie SC.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Aug 22;(8):CD011814. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011814.pub2. Review.

View full list in PubMed