top heart centers

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no. 3 - johns hopkins hospital

Johns Hopkins Hospital is located in Baltimore, Maryland.

Reasons to Go There for Heart Care
Johns Hopkins Hospital is world renowned for its research. In 2005, Johns Hopkins filed more than 250 patents. Each year the medical center receives more research funding from the National Institutes of Health than any other facility in the United States. Considered the birthplace of cardiac surgery, doctors at Johns Hopkins were the first to perform a precursor to modern bypass surgery (nicknamed the Blue Baby Operation). Johns Hopkins doctors also invented cardiac defibrillators and CPR, and they pioneered balloon angioplasty (first started in children’s heart surgeries).

The Heart Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital is home to several specialty clinics within cardiology, including the Preventive Cardiology Service. This clinic focuses on preventing cardiovascular disease in those with high-risk factors and preventing additional cardiac events in those who already have heart and/or vascular disease. 

Like the other top heart centers on this list, Johns Hopkins excels at patient communication. The hospital has an e-newsletter, hosts weekly podcasts on a variety of health topics, and publishes the Heart Bulletin to keep patients up-to-date on heart care and breakthroughs. The bulletin allows patients to search a glossary of terms and learn basic information about commonly prescribed heart drugs and heart conditions.

Making News
In March 2007, cardiologists at Johns Hopkins discovered that African-Americans experience a much lower incidence of heart attack, but a much higher incidence of heart failure, than any other ethnic group in the United States. With help from the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, researchers found that when they removed hypertension and diabetes as risk factors for heart failure, the number of African-Americans with heart failure was similar to that of other ethnic groups. These findings suggest that high rates of diabetes and hypertension are at least partially to blame for the higher incidence of heart failure in African-Americans. The study did not look at biological or environmental factors. Researchers presented their findings at the American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific sessions.