Department Introduction

Cardiac Surgery in Chang Gung memorial hospital, Linkou, Taiwan was setup in 1976. Dr. Chang Chau-Hsiung, being the first chief, performed the first open heart surgery, mitral valve replacement, on May 31, 1977. The first cardiac transplantation was performed in 1991 by Dr. Chang and the second Chief, Dr. Lin PJ after finishing his training in Mayo clinics. Under the excellent leaderships of both Dr. Chang, promoted to be the superintendent of Chang Gung memorial hospital and the chief Lin, total open heart surgery volume exceeded 10000 cases in 1999.

We devoted more to off pump CABG, mitral valve repair, aortic surgery, and heart failure therapy (including surgical ventricular restoration, transplant, ECMO and ventricular assist device (VAD)). Our open heart surgery volume surpassed 15000 cases in 2006, increased with an average of 600-800 cases per year. The ECMO rescue team was set up to resuscitate more acute cardiopulmonary failure patients refractory to traditional treatments. By cooperating with Berlin heart center in Germany in 2006, we became the only government-approved VAD human trial medical center in Taiwan. We provided latest generation of VAD, Incor and Excor, for destination therapy for terminal heart patients who are not eligible for cardiac transplantation or for temporary use for bridging to transplant or recovery.

In the near future, small wound and less invasive cardiac surgery will be the trend. Under the strong base of our traditional open heart surgery, we are developing Robot (da Vinci) assisted minimal invasive open heart surgery, thoracic aortic stent and Percutaneous aortic valve replacement to provide patients more effective and safer therapy.