“Our mission is to transform the health of the communities we serve and the Heart Hospital delivers on that promise in life-changing ways,” said Tom Miller, CEO of UofL Health. “We have dedicated the space, assembled the technology and most importantly we have the academic expertise and commitment to make a difference in Kentucky’s biggest health threat.”

According to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, heart disease remains Kentucky’s leading cause of death. The Heart Hospital is designed to change that statistic by saving lives and improving heart health. From the routine to the rare, and advancing research, the specially trained staff is dedicated to taking care of heart patients and their families.

“The UofL Health – Heart Hospital represents the future of heart care, in Kentucky and beyond,” said Lori Stewart Gonzalez, University of Louisville interim president. “This hospital combines comprehensive clinical care with academic expertise, training and breakthrough discoveries to advance heart care around the world.”

The Heart Hospital has more than 100 beds dedicated for heart patients. Rising 15-stories above downtown Louisville, with nearly 280,000 square feet, it provides leading-edge heart care on UofL Health’s academic medical campus. It includes six dedicated cardiac cath labs, two hybrid operating rooms, three electrophysiology labs and three cardiac operating rooms collectively equipped for TAVR, Watchmen Flex and heart transplant procedures. More than 300 heart care professionals make up the Heart Hospital team, with preventative and follow-up care extended to more than 30 locations across Kentucky and Indiana.

“Convenient access is essential to impactful care, that’s why the Heart Hospital extends care beyond downtown and into our community,” said , UofL Physicians – Cardiology Associates. “With early diagnosis, customized interventions and regular check-ups, our goal is to prevent the need for advanced care. But, if advance care is needed, the Heart Hospital means patients get the very best care, and still stay close to home.”

As part of UofL Health and through its alignment with both the University of Louisville School of Medicine and the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, the Heart Hospital leverages the advantage of academic medicine. Medical heart firsts attributed to the UofL Health team include three world’s first transplants and cardiac stem cell procedures, along with a first-in-the nation procedure to relieve the symptoms of heart failure to improve cardiac function and quality of life. The Heart Hospital team is also credited with dozens of state firsts and has celebrated more than .

“When you come to the Heart Hospital you get access to the heart care standards of the future, today,” said , chair of the UofL Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. “We leverage our academic advantage to save and improve more lives. I’m proud to be part of a team committed to research and developing innovative heart care.”

All UofL Health – Heart Hospital locations are now available to assist patients, downtown and at more than 30 locations across the community. 

The iVAS is a minimally invasive alternative to ventricular assist devices for use in patients with severe heart failure, allowing more mobility and implant without open-heart surgery. The iVAS supports heart function and can be used temporarily while patients await a heart transplant or as a more permanent treatment. UofL is the only site in Kentucky participating in the iVAS trial.

The iVAS is a counterpulsation heart device, assisting the heart by pumping between beats while the heart is resting to increase the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart. Manufactured by the device consists of a balloon-type pump placed in the descending aorta. This pump is inflated and deflated to help move blood through the body. The intra-aortic pump is connected through the skin to an external drive unit. The new technology is an improvement over other heart assist devices such as the left ventricular assist device (LVAD) most significantly in that the iVAS is implanted with a minimally invasive procedure, not requiring open heart surgery.

“The iVAS is put in through a peripheral artery so it does not require opening the chest or placing the patient on a heart-lung machine,” said Slaughter, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery in the UofL School of Medicine and surgical director of heart transplant and mechanical assist devices for UofL and Jewish Hospital. “Through this clinical trial, we may find additional advantages such as the opportunity for patients to disconnect from the device intermittently. With the VAD, you are always tethered to the device. With the iVAS, you may be able to be untethered or turn it off for short periods,” Slaughter said.

Another benefit, Slaughter said, is patients are not required to be on long-term blood thinners, which can have serious side effects.

Robert Hughes, one of the patients who received the iVAS implanted by Slaughter in Louisville, had a heart attack in May and subsequently learned he had heart failure.

“I finished chemo for leukemia in January. I had gone from 200 pounds to 145 pounds and I was pretty weak,” Hughes said. “Then I had the heart attack on May 17. Afterward I was getting dizzy just standing. I felt like I would faint. It was very unnerving. I didn’t want to get out and do a nosedive at Pic Pac,” Hughes said.

Hughes’s diagnosis was advanced heart failure, but he did not qualify for either a heart transplant or open-heart surgery, so when he was presented with the iVAS as a long-term option, he was ready to participate in the trial. His iVAS was implanted on Aug. 13. Within a few weeks, he was able to go home.

“Since the surgery, I feel stronger and haven’t had dizzy spells. I am gaining my weight back,” Hughes said. “I am very pleased with the outcome. As far as I’m concerned, everything is a plus.”

Hughes said he has been able to get out for trips to the drug store or grocery store without fear of passing out. The external drive unit for iVAS weighs only 8 pounds, permitting patients to be discharged from the hospital to await transplant or continue their lives at home and free to go out in the community.

The goal of the is to determine whether iVAS is as effective as the LVAD. Including the two patients at Jewish Hospital, 70 patients have been implanted with the iVAS device in 12 centers across the United States. 

Learn more about clinical trials at UofL .