Cardiothoracic surgery

Call to schedule an appointment: 352.787.9838

If you’re facing something as serious as heart surgery, you want to be close to home and family. The cardiothoracic surgery program at UF Health Leesburg Hospital is led by some of the most esteemed surgeons and most forward thinking minds in medicine. Supported by an advanced team of cardiac care professionals, these men and women perform open heart surgeries daily – nearly 750 every year.

For more than 25 years, we have sought to use the best possible treatments and the newest minimally invasive options available to help patients recover more quickly. The cardiac care team includes board-certified and fellowship-trained thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons, cardiac anesthesiologists, perfusionists, nurses, cardiologists, primary care physicians, emergency staff, cardiac catheterization staff and more.

“We work like a well-oiled machine and have performed more than 16,000 lifesaving open-heart surgery procedures since 1998. Our team is very accommodating with a keen focus on prioritizing the unique needs of each patient.”

Karen S. Thompson, DO

Leading-edge surgical care

  • Our cardiovascular anesthesiologists often get patients off ventilators within a few hours of surgery. That’s two to three times faster than many other programs. Doing so speeds up the process of getting patients through the Intensive Care Unit and home.
  • Our team was the first in the region to provide minimally invasive endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair.
  • Many of our physicians have been active in clinical trials that led to groundbreaking procedures to treat or prevent heart attacks and strokes and continue pioneering breakthroughs today.
  • UF Health Leesburg Hospital is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a High Performing Hospital for Heart Bypass Surgery.
  • With transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, our team is able to replace heart valves by inserting them through the femoral artery and the vessel in the groin, eliminating the need to open up the chest. This translates into significantly less recovery time for most patients.
  • We utilize MitraClip™, a small implanted clip attached to the patient’s mitral valve, to help restore normal blood flow through the heart.