The Montreal Heart Institute marks 50 years of excellence

Ultra-specialized Institution serving the community Montreal Heart Institute founder, Dr. Paul David, was nothing if not visionary. In 1954, over a half-century ago, he came up with the avant-garde concept of establishing a Montreal-based medical centre that would focus exclusively on treating cardiovascular diseases; he also wanted it to have its own research centre so patients would be among the first to benefit from the latest scientific breakthroughs.

The Facts

• The top heart centre in Canada: 4 hemodynamics rooms, 4 operating rooms, an electrophysiology lab, state-of-the art diagnostic services, and a prevention and rehabilitation centre.
• A dedicated medical team: 188 physicians, including 42 cardiologists, 9 heart surgeons, 11 anaesthetists, 75 researchers, and a support staff of 400 nurses and over 1,000 other specialized employees.
• A unique multidisciplinary approach conducive to healing and resulting in shorter hospitalizations.
• A specialized clinical network for accurately evaluating the needs of every patient and giving them personalized care with thorough follow-ups.
• Thousands of procedures performed annually, including 1,122 bypasses, 4,000 angiographies, 2,200 angioplasties and 552 vascular surgeries.
• Over 50,000 patients treated every year

Major Achievements

Interesting Factoid

• In 1954, the Montreal Heart Institute was Canada's 1 ^st specialized heart centre and the 2 ^nd to open its doors in North America.

World Premieres achieved at the MHI:

• 1 ^st pacemaker implant in Quebec (1961)
• 1 ^st aortic valve replacement in Quebec (1963);
• 1 ^st selective coronary angiography in Quebec (1964)
• 1 ^st heart transplant in Canada (1968);
• 1st aorto-coronary bypass in Québec and the 2nd in Canada (1969)
• 1 ^st coronary angioplasty in Canada (1980);
• 1 ^st laser angioplasty (1987) (dilatation de valve mitrale au Canada?) (1987)
• 1 ^st atrial fibrillation treatment by cryoablation in the world (1998)
• 1 ^st biological mitral valve implant in North America (2002)

Development of innovative technologies:

• Pacemaker;
• Defibrillator;
• Discovery of a new molecule;
• Radiological and nuclear imaging system

standing, internationally acclaimed results achieved by MHI specialists:

• Dr. Reda Ibrahim from the MHI and Dr Nagib Dahdah of the SJUHC:  achieved a world first in the treatment of a young pediatric patient's coronary arteries. Maryjane, an 11 ½ years old, who suffers from severe heart problems, became the first child in the world to have benefited from a new technology, called the CROSSER, which is used to treat patients with completely blocked coronary arteries.
• Dr. Louis Perrault developed a less invasive endoscopic saphenous vein withdrawal technique for bypasses which circumvents long incisions.
• Dr. Pierre Théroux published a book used as a reference tool in Canadian and U.S. medical faculties;
• Dr. Philippe Lallier was chosen by THE HEART.org to publish the treatment algorithm of acute myocardial infarctions;
• Dr. Reda Ibrahim and Dr. Carlos Ruiz achieved a North American first by using an innovative adjustable prosthesis for permeable oral foramen closures, whose double umbrella is introduced transcutaneously.
• Dr. Serge Doucet delivered a hemodynamics lecture from the MHI that was broadcast live to thousands of Washington conventioneers;
• Several physicians delivered live surgical lectures on aortic valve procedures to international specialists.
• And the list goes on!