Recommendations of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Future Direction in Cardiac Surgery -- Baumgartner et al. 111 (22):

Recommendations of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Future Direction in Cardiac Surgery -- Baumgartner et al. 111 (22): 3007 -- Circulation: "Recommendations of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Future Direction in Cardiac Surgery
William A. Baumgartner, MD; Stephanie Burrows, PhD; Pedro J. del Nido, MD; Timothy J. Gardner, MD; Suzanne Goldberg, RN, MSN; Robert C. Gorman, MD; George V. Letsou, MD; Alice Mascette, MD; Robert E. Michler, MD; John D. Puskas, MD; Eric A. Rose, MD; Todd K. Rosengart, MD; Frank W. Sellke, MD; Sara J. Shumway, MD; Norbert Wilke, MD

From the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.

Correspondence to William A. Baumgartner, MD, Vincent L. Gott Professor of Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St, Blalock 618, Baltimore, MD 21287-4618. E-mail wbaumgar@csurg.jhmi.jhu.edu

Received December 16, 2004; revision received February 15, 2005; accepted March 2, 2005.

New surgical procedures, imaging modalities, and medical devices have improved therapy for many patients and made treatment possible for others who have had few options in the past. In February 2004, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Advisory Council proposed that the institute evaluate the status and future directions in cardiac surgery. In response to this recommendation, the NHLBI convened a working group of cardiac surgeons on May 7 and 8, 2004, to assess the state of cardiac surgery research, identify critical gaps in current knowledge, determine areas of opportunity, and obtain specific recommendations for future research activities. The working group discussed surgical revascularization, novel surgical approaches, valvular research directions, biotechnology and cell-based therapy, heart failure, imaging modalities, and barriers to clinical research and presents its recommendations here.

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