Overview & Awards
Heart Care Experience
Our team is committed to helping people with heart problems improve their health and enjoy longer, healthier lives.
Cardiovascular surgeons from Cleveland Clinic use advanced techniques that have helped Cleveland Clinic's Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute rank nationally and be recognized as the global leader in cardiovascular care.
Our program focuses on prevention, detection, treatment and follow-up. Whether you have a common or complex heart problem, Hillcrest is a trusted resource for superior technology and experienced professional care.
Awards & Distinctions
National Recognition for Cardiac Care
- Named 11 times as one of Thomson Reuters' 100 Top Hospitals for Cardiovascular Care
- Designated by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as one of Three Best Hospitals in the U.S. for Treating Heart Attack and Heart Failure
- Received the highest rankings for cardiovascular care by Consumer Guide to Ohio Hospital Quality
- Accredited as a Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI from the American College of Cardiology
Patient Story: Loving Wife Doesn't Miss a Beat Saving Husband With CPR
“Dr. Scharfstein is my hero. I am eternally grateful to have world-class care right in our backyard at Hillcrest Hospital.”
View Tim's StoryPrevention & Detection
Prevention
Cardiovascular disease is America's leading cause of death in men and women. Our prevention program helps people recognize their heart risks and establish a routine of healthful eating and regular activity.
Join us for any of these heart health programs:
- Healthy Heart. This program pinpoints your key risk factors for heart disease, which may include high blood pressure, high blood sugar and abnormal cholesterol levels.
- Healthy Weight. Monitored program to help you lose weight and feel good
- Tobacco Treatment Help for smokers who want to quit the habit
- Diabetes Education. Effective strategies for living with diabetes and preventing its serious complications
- Healthy Heart Tips
Detection
There are many forms of cardiovascular disease, including irregular heart rhythms, blocked arteries and stroke. Detection technologies help physicians develop quick and accurate diagnoses for any heart-related disorder.
- Imaging. For a cardiac treatment to produce the best results, the physician must see clear images of the heart. Hillcrest's Digital Flat Panel (DFP) imaging system yields image quality that is far superior to any previous type of cardiac imaging system. Other advanced, non-invasive diagnostic tools include:
- 64-slice Computed Tomography (CT) scanner with cardio-CT angiography capabilities
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Echocardiography
- Intravascular Ultrasound. Minimally invasive testing procedures are often done in one of Hillcrest's cardiac catheterization labs. Here, doctors may use angiography or a process called intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) to see inside the heart's arteries without having to perform major surgery.
- Electrophysiology Testing. When the problem involves an irregular heartbeat, our doctors can use specialized equipment in the electrophysiology (EP) laboratory for diagnosis.
Treatment
Advanced Treatment
In the Operating Room
From coronary artery bypass to critical heart valve repairs, cardiothoracic surgeons from Cleveland Clinic, operating at Hillcrest, are highly skilled in advanced surgical techniques.
Interventional Cardiology (non-surgical)
An "interventional" treatment is one that is performed using tiny catheters wires, balloons and stents inserted through extremely small incisions and carefully placed in the heart's blood vessel(s).
Dye is injected through these catheters allowing the physician to see the heart and treat it without open-heart surgery. With only small incisions, the procedure provides less patient discomfort, a shorter hospital stay and a faster return to daily activities, than with traditional surgery.
Interventional treatments include:
- Balloon angioplasty, which opens narrowed or blocked arteries
- Stenting, which leaves a small scaffold-like tube (a stent) in the artery to keep it open after the procedure; Hillcrest uses the latest stent technology, drug-eluting stents, which have a coating of medication specially designed to help prevent artery closure.
Follow Up
Follow Up
Cardiac Rehabilitation
After leaving the hospital, patients with heart problems can begin a medically supervised program of physical conditioning, counseling and education to make the lifelong changes that will maintain good heart health.
Congestive Heart Failure Center
Congestive heart failure occurs when a person's heart does not pump blood efficiently. The body doesn't get all the oxygen and nutrients it needs, leaving patients feeling too fatigued to perform their normal activities.
The Congestive Heart Failure Center helps people with heart failure regain a sense of normalcy and an enhanced quality of life through lifestyle and dietary changes.
The center also offers a variety of medications and surgical treatments to stabilize the heart, slow the progression of the disease and reduce symptoms.
Heart Failure Services include:
- Symptom management
- Cardiac monitoring
- Fluid and/or edema management
- Laboratory assessment
- Medications
- Follow-up assessments and care
- Education about congestive heart failure's symptoms, medications, diet and fluid management, appropriate physical activity and any symptoms that will alert you to call your doctor or the Center