Departmental Highlights Archive

Dr. Frank L. Hanley Appointed First Holder of the Lawrence Crowley, MD, Endowed Professorship in Child Health

His research and clinical work focuses on the development of interventional techniques for fetal and neonatal treatment of congenital heart disease, pulmonary, vascular physiology, and the neurologic impact of open-heart surgery. He developed and pioneered the "unifocalization" procedure, in which a single procedure is used to repair a complex and life-threatening congenital heart defect rather than several staged open-heart surgeries as performed by other surgeons.

December 2004

Dr. V. Mohan Reddy provides the surgical expertise required to fashion a stent/valve combination for the youngest patient ever to benefit from non-surgical heart valve replacement at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Doctors at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford have replaced a heart valve in a 9-month-old girl without opening her chest or placing her on a heart-lung machine. Developed two years ago by a British physician, the procedure has never before been done on a child under age 7. It has been performed only once in the United States, and in that case on an adult.

November 10, 2004

Youngest Patient Ever Benefits From Non-Surgical Heart Valve Replacement at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Doctors at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford have replaced a heart valve in a 9-month-old girl without opening her chest or putting her on a heart-lung machine.

November 10, 2004

Drs. Bruce Reitz and Robert Robbins successfully install a Berlin Heart in the smallest and youngest baby to ever receive the pump

FDA gives Packard special permission to use the Berlin Heart device. Five-month-old Miles Coulson is a bit of a technological wonder, for he would not be alive today without the benefit of a German heart pump that's been used only three times before in this country. The pump, a fist-sized piece of polyurethane shaped like a diaphragm, thumps quietly at the baby's side, collecting the blood from the left side of Miles' failing heart and directing it back to the body via the aorta.

September 1, 2004

Teaching old cells new tricks: Just what can adult stem cells do?

People who survive a heart attack carry a permanent reminder of their ordeal. Where heart cells die from the lack of oxygen, scar tissue fills the gaps and leaves the heart weaker and less able to pump blood. Knowing this, Robert Robbins, MD, director of Stanford's Institute for Cardiovascular Medicine, took note when researchers from New York Medical College published a 2001 study showing that blood-forming stem cells from bone marrow had repaired damaged heart muscle in mice.

Fall 2004

Sisters breathe in the good life after both receiving double-lung transplants

Twins born with cystic fibrosis now focus on staying physically fit

August 4, 2004

The gift of life: Stanford a leader in heart transplants

Since 1970, Dr. Peer Portner, currently a consulting professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford, led the LVAD's research and progression. Originally, he and Dr. Philip Oyer worked together toward the goal of a permanent implant. Prior to any clinical tests, the mechanism was partially implanted in 3-month-old calves. According to Portner, calves had a similar cardiac physiology to humans. As their experiments became longer, they switched to sheep. Some withstood an implant for a hundred days.

May 12, 2004

Heart transplant reunion party celebrates lifesaving milestone

Annual event brings survivors together for a heart-to-heart

April 14, 2004

First Recipient of Life-Saving Device Honored in 20-Year Milestone at Stanford

Twenty years ago, Robert St. Laurent, then 51, arrived at Stanford Hospital with a rapidly failing heart and no available donor for transplant. A team of cardiologists decided his desperate condition warranted a procedure that, up until then, had been tried only in animals: mechanically removing the workload from his heart by implanting a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, to buy time until a suitable heart for transplant became available.

April 12, 2004

Blood-Forming Stem Cells Fail to Repair Heart Muscle in Stanford Study

A new study adds a twist to the ongoing debate over using blood-forming stem cells to repair heart muscle. In the March 21 online issue of Nature, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine report that the cells are unable to replace heart muscle after a heart attack, which refutes earlier findings.

March 21, 2004

Heartfelt Help: Stanford caregivers thwart Marfan syndrome’s deadly course

Founded in 1988 by cardiovascular surgeon D. Craig Miller, MD, the center is one of only about five other comprehensive centers in the nation specializing in what is a surprisingly common disorder. The Stanford center brings together an unprecedented number of physicians and disciplines to treat every aspect of pediatric and adult Marfan cases.

Summer 2003

Stanford Researcher Dusts Off Old Drug; Uncovers New Anti-Rejection Properties

Thirty years ago, researchers scooped some dirt on Easter Island and discovered bacteria that led to a potential anti-fungal drug. Little did they know that the drug - which languished on shelves after proving ineffective in early trials - would become popular in 1999 as a way to prevent rejection of transplanted organs.

April 25, 2002

Stanford Magazine: Heart Support

Among the first to successfully implant heart failure patients with life-extending mechanical pumps, Stanford surgeons commit to improving these machines

Fall 2001