About the Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anesthesia Fellowship Program
Our clinical caseload is outstanding in diversity, number and acuity of care. Loyola Medicine's transplant center is the most active heart and lung transplant center in Illinois, having performed the most lung transplants in Illinois for the last 20 consecutive years and most heart transplants in Illinois this past year, and has been a leader in this area for decades.
During training, the fellow will gain expertise in the management of patients with end-stage heart failure and advanced lung disease, performing anesthesia for transplantation of the heart and lung as well as implantation of ventricular assist devices. The fellow will obtain extensive experience in a variety of complex cardiac and thoracic surgical cases, including multiple valve and combined CABG-valve operations, thoracic aortic surgery including thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair, TEVAR, and aortic arch/DHCA, correction of congenital anomalies, as well as thoracoscopic and robotic-assisted thoracic surgery. Our department provides anesthesia for well over 1200 cardiac and thoracic cases per year. This allows the fellow case mix to easily exceed ACGME case minimums and provides exposure to all 4 optional advanced cardiac procedural categories in addition to obligate thoracic and cardiac cases.
Loyola is at the forefront of the utilization/implantation of several cutting edge cardiac devices including MitraClip, LARIAT and WATCHMAN LAA occlusion devices, in addition to the line of cardiovascular support options (HeartMate II & Heartware VAD, Impella, V-V and V-A ECMO, RVAD) and a state of the art electrophysiology suite as well as a hybrid operating room.
Fellows will receive superb training in transesophageal echocardiography. While this training occurs primarily in the operating room, the fellow also has the opportunity to work directly with our cardiologists in a rotation outside the operating room, improving diagnostic and interpretive skills. Our caseload allows for the fellow to perform all TEE studies required for National Board of Echocardiography certification. Prior fellows have a 100% pass rate on the advanced PTEeXAM.
Expertise in the postoperative care of cardiac patients is obtained during a rotation in the post-cardiac surgical intensive care unit with supervision and teaching by our own anesthesia faculty. This allows the individual to gain a greater appreciation of the entire perioperative course as an extension of our anesthesia care. Close contacts with consultants from other specialties strengthen the educational benefit of this rotation.
In addition to intraoperative teaching, we have a didactic program consisting of journal clubs and weekly lectures on advanced cardiac and thoracic topics. The fellow will also have access to a wide range of multimedia educational materials in transesophageal echocardiography. Past fellows have elected to be involved in clinical only or combined clinical/research programs.
Our facility is ultramodern. We have dedicated cardiothoracic operating rooms including a hybrid OR with cath lab procedural capabilities. Each OR is equipped with 3D transesophageal echocardiography machines with advanced 2D and 3D quantification software. The fellow also has dedicated office space with a personal computer and access to a separate TEE computer workstation.
Other benefits to the fellow (in addition to the salary & benefits which can be found by contacting our Graduate Medical Education office) include guaranteed financial support to attend an echo conference, support to attend any conference at which the fellow is presenting (fellows are encouraged to actively participate in the annual Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesia Meeting), as well as access to the department resources in preparation of the applied ABA exam (six current ABA oral board examiners on staff).
We thank you for your interest in our program. We believe the training received here at Loyola Medicine will lay a foundation of knowledge & excellence which will equip you for success throughout your career.
