The outpatient practice provides patients the opportunity to select among more than 30 highly qualified clinical faculty. Not only does each faculty treat a wide range of general cardiology problems, but many also further specialize in areas such as congestive heart failure, heart rhythm abnormalities, lipid disorders and vascular disease. Our physicians work closely with nurses, clinical staff and social workers to provide coordinated care. They also work closely with other specialties such as cardiothoracic surgery, vascular surgery and other medical specialties. Our physicians oversee an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program for phase II and phase III cardiac rehabilitation. They conduct more than 18,000 visits per year in the outpatient practice which has grown by more than 8% in the past year. Among the conditions and diseases treated by our cardiologists are: lipid abnormalities, valvular heart disease, adult congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, aortic and peripheral vascular disease, myocardial disease, congestive heart failure, peripheral vascular disease and infections of the heart.

The heart station and non-invasive cardiac laboratories perform cardiac testing for inpatients and outpatients. The Echo laboratory is located both in the inpatient hospital and the outpatient office, while the heart station and nuclear stress lab are located in the outpatient building. The heart station obtains and interprets over 35,000 electrocardiograms per year, and over 500 holter monitor reports per year, and is under the direction of Rory Childers, M.D. The Echo laboratory is under the direction of Roberto Lang, M.D., and performs over 10,000 echocardiograms per year including transthoracic and transesophogial 2-D echocardiography and Doppler measurements. It also utilizes cutting edge technology such 3-D echocardiography, contrast echocardiography and image enhanced wall motion abnormalities. The Nuclear exercise laboratory is under the direction of Kim Williams, M.D., and performs exercise tests and nuclear profusion imaging. The section also works closely with Radiology to provide cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, computer tomography and positron emission tomography imaging.

The inpatient service covers more than 2,200 admissions per year on four inpatient teams that alternate admissions every fourth day. Cardiology also supervises the coronary care unit and a general cardiology inpatient consultative service. The inpatient teams are comprised of a cardiology faculty, residents, interns and medical students.

In addition, both the heart failure transplant service and the electrophysiology service provide independent consultative services. The electrophysiology and interventional services also have separate inpatient services for patients who are anticipated to have short term hospitalization. These services are staffed by nurse practitioners and the respective faculty.

The Heart Failure Transplant service provides consultative services for any patients with congestive heart failure, and in collaboration with cardiothoracic surgery, jointly manages those patients before and after cardiac transplantation or placement of a cardiac assist device. The transplant service is the largest in Illinois, having transplanted more than 32 patients in 2004 year. Now, with the arrival of a new team of pulmonary hypertension specialists, the program offers an unparalleled spectrum of services to provide comprehensive, fully integrated treatment of two diseases that are intimately linked. The pulmonary physicians Stuart Rich, MD and Mardi Gomberg-Maitland, MD, MSc. are internationally recognized experts in the field of pulmonary hypertension. Over twenty-five years ago, Dr. Rich established the first pulmonary hypertension program, which has grown into the largest, most successful program of its kind. He has led the development of many new treatments for pulmonary hypertension, including the use of intravenous prostacyclin for the condition. The joint program offers a substantial number of clinical trials with novel treatments and devices for patients with complex heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. The addition of the pulmonary hypertension group enhances the services previously available at The University of Chicago and unites the treatment of heart failure and pulmonary hypertension within the specialty of cardiology.

The Electrophysiology service under the direction of Bradley Knight, M.D. provides consultation on patients with cardiac arrhythmias, both in the inpatient and outpatient settings. It also provides a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with cardiac arrhythmias, including pharmacological therapy, invasive electrophysiology testing, catheter ablation, pace maker and ICD implantation. It is also one of the few programs offering ablation for chronic atrial fibrillation as well as laser pacemaker lead extraction.

The Interventional laboratory under the direction of John Lopez, M.D. provides invasive diagnostic testing including cardiac catheterization, hemodynamic assessment, intravascular ultrasound, and angiography. It also performs a number of therapeutic procedures such as angioplasty, stent placement, brachytherapy, intraaortic balloon placement, septal ablation of asymmetric septal hypertrophy and valvulolplasty. Additionally, the group provides a wide range of peripheral vascular diagnostic and interventional procedures including stent placement for coartoid disease, renal artery stenosis and peripheral vascular disease.

The clinical programs are highly interrelated in order to deliver seamless care for the individual patient whatever their diagnosis or treatment plan. The faculty ensures that the patient, family and the referring physician are fully informed and understand the diagnosis and treatment plan.