Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anesthesia

The division is a leader in the field of Adult Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia (CTA). Closely aligned with the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, the Division of Vascular Surgery, and the Division of Cardiology, the CTA division’s primary goal is to provide first-rate perioperative care to a high-acuity and complex patient population. Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford has a remarkable history, pioneering heart and lung transplantation, thoracic aortic reconstruction, endovascular aortic repair, trans-catheter aortic valve replacement, and mechanical circulatory support.

In 2019, the CTA division moved into a new, cutting-edge facility, which includes seven fully modernized cardiothoracic and vascular operating rooms, three hybrid rooms, one procedure room, as well as a dedicated thirty-bed cardio-vascular intensive care unit (CVICU). The yearly surgical volume has passed 1,400 cases, including highly complex procedures such as multiple valve repairs, aortic surgeries, and multi-organ transplants. The CTA division plays a sentinel role in the CVICU, a closed unit primarily staffed by its faculty.

The CTA fellowship program is among the top programs in the country receiving well over a hundred applications every year from a highly competitive candidate pool. The division is dedicated to a structured, immersive, and diverse educational program using modern didactics. Other important programmatic efforts are high-specialty care, clinical operations, and clinical research. Examples include care in obstetric patients with congenital or acquired cardiopulmonary diseases, work flow optimization with automated data streaming and analysis, clinical trials testing integrated regional anesthesia techniques, and outcomes research using large databases and pertinent computational approaches.