Mount Sinai in the Media

Dr. Xydas becomes only cardiac surgeon in Miami to offer valve-sparing aortic root repair surgery while maintaining Mount Sinai’s strong valve program

(MIAMI BEACH, Florida — January 5, 2017) – Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida, welcomes Steve Xydas, M.D., as its new chief of the Columbia University Division of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Xydas will also co-direct the Mount Sinai Heart Institute alongside Mount Sinai’s chief of the Columbia University Division of Cardiology, Gervasio Lamas, M.D.

Dr. Xydas brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Mount Sinai’s premier cardiovascular program. He is board certified in cardiac and general surgery and is an expert in minimally invasive, open, endovascular, and transcatheter approaches to a full spectrum of serious cardiac diseases, including valve disease, coronary disease, and aortic aneurysms.

A graduate of Harvard College and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dr. Xydas received post-graduate surgical training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. He has spent the last seven years as a cardiothoracic surgeon at Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey, a U.S. News & World Report “Top 50 Hospital” for cardiac surgery, where he established a prolific, high-volume surgical practice with one of the lowest mortality rates in New Jersey based on published state reports. In addition, doctors in New Jersey chose Dr. Xydas as a “Top Doctor” in New Jersey Monthly magazine in 2015, and he is nationally recognized as a Castle Connolly 2016 “Top Doctor.”

“The successful recruitment of Dr. Xydas is yet another in the long line of accomplishments for Mount Sinai and our cardiovascular program,” said Steven D. Sonenreich, Mount Sinai president and CEO. “We know the community counts on Mount Sinai as a destination hospital for cardiac surgery, and we look forward to adding the specialized procedures and expertise that Dr. Xydas brings to our medical center.”

Dr. Xydas joins the team of cardiothoracic surgeons already in place at Mount Sinai, including Roy Williams, M.D., Angelo LaPietra, M.D., and Maurice Mawad, M.D. For years, Mount Sinai has remained the region’s leader in cardiovascular services, offering the best cardiac surgery survival rate in Florida among hospitals performing a high volume of complex cases, and the best heart attack survival rate in Miami-Dade County, according to the Agency for Healthcare Administration and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. State data also shows that Mount Sinai doctors perform more heart valve procedures than any other hospital in South Florida – and the second most in Florida – and cardiac surgery patients experience the shortest recovery time, compared to other hospitals in the county.

“It is a great honor to be chosen as the new chief of cardiac surgery at one of the leading academic and cardiac hospitals,” said Dr. Xydas. “I look forward to maintaining Mount Sinai’s legacy of cardiac excellence and continuing to grow and improve our efforts to provide high quality patient care.”

Nearly half of the South Florida market (46%) turns to Mount Sinai for its expertise in cardiac valve surgery and our doctors perform twice as many of these surgeries when compared to other hospitals in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Dr. Xydas will not only maintain Mount Sinai’s strong valve surgery program but is now also the only cardiac surgeon in Miami to offer valve-sparing aortic root repair surgery. This procedure allows aortic aneurysms to be repaired or removed while the patient’s own aortic valve is preserved and repaired. By preserving the native aortic valve, patients avoid the need for an artificial heart valve. Aneurysms of the aorta occur most often in patients with hypertension, but are also very common in patients with congenital weakness of the aortic wall or connective tissue disease, like Marfan’s syndrome. Typically without symptoms, aneurysms can lead to tears in the aorta that can be fatal if left untreated. Dr. Xydas helped pioneer a registry of over 600 aneurysm patients who are followed and monitored annually in a surgical clinic setting and will bring this advanced level of follow-up care for all aneurysm patients at Mount Sinai.

“We have tremendous depth and breadth in our cardiovascular program,” said Dr. Lamas, who also is chairman of medicine and chief of the Columbia University Division of Cardiology at Mount Sinai. “The addition of Dr. Steve Xydas means our cardiac surgical team will expand with new skills, which will result in tremendous benefits to our patients.”

Dr. Xydas will treat patients at Mount Sinai’s main campus in Miami Beach. To schedule an appointment, call 305-674-2780. For more information on Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Mount Sinai Heart Institute, visit www.msmc.com.