Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology

Cardiac care has been one of the cornerstones of the clinical arena since the early days at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Our division has a long history of pursuing new techniques in the management of patients requiring anesthetic care, enabling them to return to their previous state of health and back to everyday life. In the 90’s our hospital was an early adopter of biventricular support with the Abiomed BVS-5000, and the Heartmate I as bridge to transplant. Since those days we have continued to adapt to newer ventricular support as technology evolves. Techniques such as minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS) were started at our center in 2004 and with that, we modified our practice to match the evolution seen in cardiac surgery. Fast-track cardiac anesthesia and enhanced recovery were a natural progression from the MICS concept. This has been championed by our team since at least 2009 with a number of goals set to improve outcomes and the patient experience without increasing the rate of adverse events. These goals include extubation within 2 hours of admission to the ICU, discharge from the ICU within 24 hours, and discharge from the hospital within 5 days. These were radical concepts in those days. We did have a short window into pediatric cardiac surgery in 2005 when our hospital created a Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Program with Columbia University as its partner. The only two services at RWJUH that were able to tackle care for these patients independently of the Columbia affiliation were the Perfusion Services and our Division. Other milestones achieved at our center include the first insertion after FDA clearance of the totally implantable artificial heart, the AbioCor, in 2009. With the advent of transcatheter technologies we were early adopters, and our experience continues to grow with different clips, aortic, mitral, and tricuspid alternatives being made available. 

Another leap forward that we took a few years ago was the adoptation of preoperative erector spinae blocks for all our cardiac surgery patients allowing for the use of minimal or, in some cases, no intraoperative opioids. With this approach, we now extubate more than 50% of all our cardiac surgery cases in the operating room. The continued evolution in cardiothoracic care will continue to favor our proactive and adaptative view of the future!

Teamwork is the hallmark of our division. We have a close-knit group of cardiothoracic anesthesiologists who are always happy to work together and lend a hand. We often collaborate on complex cases and there is no shortage of support when needed. Senior faculty members provide excellent support and mentorship for the junior faculty, helping to grow their skills and knowledge set as well as find opportunities for career development. 

We are a team who loves what they do and strives to be progressive, always looking forward! 


Cardiac Anesthesiology | Rutgers Health

Contact us:

Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine

Phone: 732-235-7827

Phone: 732-937-8841

Fax:     732-418-8492

Email : anesthesia_dept@rwjms.rutgers.edu