Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute Named a Top Provider of Cardiac Bypass Surgery by Worth Magazine

Los Angeles - Jan. 06, 2009 – Worth magazine has selected Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute as one of the United States’ top 25 hospitals for cardiac bypass surgery.

The list, compiled for the magazine by healthcare research firm Castle Connolly, appears in the December/January issue. Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is one of only three hospitals on the West Coast included on the list. “At age 40, a man has a 67 percent chance of developing a heart problem within his lifetime, a woman a more than 50 percent chance -- which makes getting the best medical care critical,” the magazine states.

Castle Connolly's physician-led research department selected the top bypass hospitals based on factors including “outcome” measures, quality rankings and the number of affiliated doctors in thoracic surgery selected as Castle Connolly Top Doctors.

“Our entire team in bypass surgery, led by Alfredo Trento, M.D., is honored to be recognized for providing our patients with the highest quality care,” said Eduardo Marbán, M.D., Ph.D, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. “We strive to give our patients the best available treatments today while developing the leading-edge treatments of tomorrow.”

The magazine highlighted the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute’s groundbreaking cardiac stem cell clinical trial, directed by Marbán.

In June 2009, Marbán and his team completed the first procedure in which a patient’s own heart tissue was used to grow specialized heart stem cells that were then injected back into the patient’s heart in an effort to repair and re-grow healthy muscle in a heart that had been injured by a heart attack.

Marbán’s research earned a four-year, $5.5 million grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to fund research leading to clinical trials of new treatments for heart attack patients.

About the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute
The Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is internationally recognized for outstanding heart care built on decades of innovation and research. From cardiac imaging and advanced diagnostics to surgical repair of complex heart problems to the training of the heart specialists of tomorrow and leading-edge research that is deepening medical knowledge and practice, the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is known around the world for excellence and innovations.