Cardiac surgeons at Rush at Rush have always been pioneers, achieving such milestones as the first successful heart transplant in Chicago.

Today, they are leaders in the field of minimally invasive heart surgery, which compared to open surgery involves faster recovery and less risk of complications. Among Chicago’s most experienced in minimally invasive procedures, cardiac surgeons at Rush can offer these procedures to many patients who might not otherwise be candidates.

Innovators as well as physicians, they also have invented several new surgical techniques. When closing the sternum after surgery, for example, they can minimize recovery time and reduce the risk of infection by using plates and screws rather than wire, a method developed by a surgeon at Rush and available at only a few medical centers in the United States.

Surgical procedures

Working with an interdisciplinary team of specialists who collaborate to treat patients with complex heart and valve conditions, cardiac surgeons at Rush provide the full range of standard and leading-edge procedures. They have special expertise in the following areas:

• Aortic aneurysm surgery
• Aortic root surgery, including valve-sparing procedures
• Complex redo cardiac surgery
• Complex valve repair (aortic, mitral, tricuspid)
• Coronary artery bypass surgery
• Heart transplantation
• Minimally invasive bypass surgery and hybrid revascularization
• Minimally invasive valve repair and replacement (aortic, mitral, pulmonary, tricuspid)
• Surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation and mitral and tricuspid valve repair
• Surgical implantation of pacemakers and defibrillators  
• Ventricular assist device implantation

Surgical facilities

Cardiac surgical services at Rush are located in our new hospital, the Tower. Its interventional platform brings procedure rooms, operating rooms and recovery areas together in the same location for the convenience of patients and families and for increased collaboration among surgeons and other specialists.

Cardiac surgeons at Rush

Jai Raman, MD, PhD (section director)
Marshall D. Goldin, MD
Rajasekhar S. Malyala, MD
Robert C. March, MD
R. Anthony Perez-Tamayo, MD
Douglas R. Smego, MD

Patient and family resources

Video FAQ: adult cardiac surgery 
Heart information center
Posts about heart health from the Rush InPerson blog

Quality of care

Rush University Medical Center has one primary goal: offering patients the highest possible quality of care. As part of this effort, we continually evaluate our care processes and clinical outcomes. See the resulting data and learn more about our quality measures.