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.

Today, Dr. David's philosophy is alive and well at the Institute, where his successors continue to pool their resources to achieve one common goal: improving the quality of life and medical care of patients with heart disease.  Visit the MHI web site. 

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!