Cardiothoracic Surgery: Saving Lives Faster

The Heart Center at Wake Forest Baptist Health provides exceptional cardiothoracic surgery care to patients. Our team of fellowship-trained cardiothoracic surgeons, clinical fellows, residents, advanced trained nurses and physician assistants, specially trained intensivists and other health care professionals provides around-the-clock care that is unparalleled in the region.

Wake Forest Baptist’s cardiothoracic surgeons deliver exceptional results for all types of heart conditions through procedures such as aortic valve replacements, heart bypass surgery, heart transplants and surgeries and therapies for thoracic aneurysms. Our specially trained health care professionals work closely together to continually improve the care we provide and increase optimal outcomes for patients with common and complex problems and conditions.

We use minimally invasive procedures whenever possible to ensure the best possible outcome for our patients. And we ensure our patients get the advantage of both the latest in technology, devices and medications and the personalized and individualized care that is at the core of the Wake Forest Baptist approach.  

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The Wake Forest Baptist Approach

The health care professionals at Wake Forest Baptist’s Heart Center use experience, expertise and teamwork to drive innovation and deliver the best possible care to our patients. We use the latest advancements in technology and therapeutics, provide individualized patient care and utilize quality initiatives to consistently improve and build upon our previous advancements.

Conditions & Treatments

• Heart Valve Surgery
• Heart Bypass Surgery (VIDEO)
• VAD
• Thoracic Aneurysm
• Heart Transplant
• MAZE Procedure
• Heart Lung Bypass Pump
• Minimally-Invasive Heart Surgery

Building Teams that Deliver Exceptional Patient Outcomes

The cardiothoracic surgery clinical care team works closely together to ensure optimal success for our patients. Our nursing staff and physician assistants, many of them with more than three decades of experience, have specialized training in providing care for post-operative heart patients. Our critical care fellows constantly review patient lab work and ensure everything that can be done for a patient is being done. An attending intensive care physician is available 24 hours a day. And our highly skilled cardiothoracic surgeons lead these professionals to ensure our patients get the best possible results from their surgeries. We do everything possible to ensure our patients receive optimal care and experience exceptional outcomes.

Dr. Kincaid	Dr. Kon	Dr. Lata
Dr. Oaks	Dr. Otaki	Dr. Ungerleider

Ensuring Quality Care that Improves Outcomes

By examining metrics of patient care and outcomes, the cardiothoracic surgeons and staff at Wake Forest Baptist’s Heart Center are able to find new and novel ways to continually improve the services we provide. From small changes, such as ensuring that a post-operative patient’s bed is propped up so that he or she doesn’t aspirate, to large process improvements, such as a major campaign to reduce renal failure in post-operative heart surgery patients, our team of exceptional clinicians and researchers ensure we deliver the best possible care to our patients. This focus on careful precision, paired with the breadth and depth of our surgeons’ experience, makes Wake Forest Baptist’s Heart Center an unparalleled center for exceptional patient care.

Revolutionary Regenerative Medicine Research

Wake Forest Baptist’s cardiothoracic surgeons work closely with the researchers and scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) to develop new methods of using regenerative medicine techniques to solve complex health problems. The collaborative team is currently developing a new method to use the body’s own stem cells to create aortic valves for surgical implantation. This research, featured on 60 Minutes, has shown great promise and, if successful, will revolutionize the way that surgeons care for patients with conditions that affect the aortic valve.