It is an international referral center for cardiac disease and operations on the lung and esophagus. More than 73,000 open heart procedures, and 24,000 vascular procedures have been performed. House staff and students see patients admitted by and under the supervision of private physicians. The census is usually about 50 patients on these services. The emphasis on cardiac disease provides a chance to examine and follow many patients with varied disease and physical exam findings.
Fellows also go on some rotations there.
Peri-operative management is also seen. It has the largest suite of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories in the world. It has one of the three largest heart transplant programs in the country annually, and it has been a pioneer in its efforts to develop an artificial heart. Conferences and morning report are available on site with students and housestaff two blocks or an eight minutes walk away to attend medical school conferences. The Chairman, who is Director of Cardiovascular Research at the THI, and the house staff directors are involved in teaching there as well.