About the Division
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Director: James K. Kirklin, M.D.
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Overview The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has a long tradition of providing excellent clinical care, education and research in the field of cardiac surgery. The modern era of cardiothoracic surgery at UAB began following the arrival of Dr. John W. Kirklin from the Mayo Clinic in 1966. Since that time, the division has continued to offer a broad range of cardiac surgical procedures to infants, children and adults. The Division's mission is to improve patient care and quality of life through careful scientific investigation of clinical outcomes, the discovery of novel therapies, and the investigation of the basic mechanisms of diseases that make cardiothoracic surgical interventions necessary. The eleven faculty members of the Division are led by James K. Kirklin, M.D., Professor and Division Director; David C. McGiffin, M.D., Professor and Deputy Director; and Robert J. Cerfolio, M.D., Chief of Section of Thoracic Surgery. To support these goals, a world-class clinical and research enterprise has been built over the last three decades, attracting over 2 million dollars in extramural funding in fiscal year 2011. |
Conditions
UAB Cardiothoracic Surgery provides treatment for the complete range of cardiovascular and thoracic disorders.
- Cardiovascular Conditions:
- Acute and chronic diseases of the thoracic aorta
- Aortic Aneurysms
- Aortic Dissections
- Complex Congenital Heart Diseases (neonatal and adult)
- Coronary Artery Disease
- Diseases of the thoracic aorta
- End stage heart disease
- Valvular Heart Disease
- Thoracic Conditions:
- Lung cancer
- Diseases of the mediastinum pleura, chest wall and diaphragm
- Emphysema
- Esophageal cancer
- Benign Esophageal diseases
- Hyperhidrosis
- Thymic Cancer
- Myasthenia gravis
Services Provided
UAB provides a wide range of services to treat cardiovascular and thoracic conditions.
- Cardiovascular Services:
- Heart Transplantations and Lung Transplantations
- Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery offers patients state-of-the-art procedures not offered elsewhere in the region, including:
- Endovascular aortic graft placement
- Procedures to treat aneurysms of the descending aorta
- Stentless valvular procedures
- Procedures for Diseases of the Thoracic Aorta
- End-stage cardiac procedures including the use of Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices (including VADS)
- Complex cardiothoracic surgery for neonates, infants, children and adults, including surgery for those with complex congenital heart disease
- Surgical treatment of valvular heart diseases, including heart valve repair and replacement
- Thoracic Services:
- Complex Airway Reconstruction
- Hyperhidrosis Surgery
- Pulmonary resection for benign and malignant conditions
- Minimally invasive thoracic surgery
- Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS)
- Robotic surgery: lymph node biopsy, lung resection (wedge, segmentectomy, lobectomy) and mediastinal mass resection
- Lung and esophageal cancer surgery