A Legacy Of World-Class Cardiovascular Care

When Mother Teresa experienced heart problems on a mission trip to Tijuana, she was rushed to Scripps for lifesaving care. She was treated with an experimental stent developed in part by a Scripps Clinic cardiologist — one of many pioneering treatments and advances in patient care that started at Scripps. 

“We used a stent that was, at the time, investigational,” says Paul Teirstein, MD, chief of cardiology, Scripps Clinic, and medical director, Prebys Cardiovascular Institute. “She blessed it, and we called it the ‘sacred stent’ ever since. She ended up recovering beautifully.” 

For decades, Scripps has been synonymous with excellence in heart care. From the pioneering work of cardiologists, such as David Carmichael, MD, and John Carson, MD, at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla to innovators like Dr. Teirstein and others who continue to advance lifesaving treatments at Prebys Cardiovascular Institute today, Scripps physicians have been trailblazers in cardiovascular care. 

In 1924, when Scripps Memorial Hospital and Scripps Metabolic Clinic first opened, the field of cardiology was in its infancy, with limited technology and understanding of heart disease. Physicians used the best practices of the time, which primarily focused on bed rest and early medications to help manage heart conditions. 

Decades later, Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla was at the forefront of advancements in the field when Drs. Carmichael and Carson incorporated new diagnostic tools, such as the electrocardiogram (EKG), which revolutionized the way heart conditions were detected and managed. They were among the leaders who expanded services at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and embraced new procedures that improved outcomes for patients with heart disease during the 1960s and 1970s. 

As technology continued to advance, Scripps remained on the leading edge of cardiovascular care, offering lifesaving interventions, such as angioplasty and coronary artery bypass surgery. These procedures, once considered high-risk, soon became commonplace, thanks to the skilled surgeons and state-of- the-art facilities at Scripps hospitals. 

Physicians at Scripps Clinic invented and were the first in the world to use vascular brachytherapy to treat stent narrowing; the first in the US both to use rotational atherectomy and implant a dual-chamber defibrillator; the first in California to implant the world’s first smartphone-compatible cardiac monitor; the first in San Diego County to use the minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) to replace a failing aortic heart valve; and one of the first to use the Palmer-Schatz stent — the type used to treat Mother Teresa — which was co-invented by a Scripps Clinic cardiologist. 

In 2015, Scripps took another giant leap forward by opening the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute on the campus of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. The seven-story, 383,000-square-foot tower serves as a center for medical research, clinical trials, wireless medicine and graduate medical education. It’s a hub for heart care on the West Coast, and most importantly, it’s where patients receive individualized care in a healing environment. 

Scripps continues to transform medicine in unprecedented ways through leading-edge procedures and advancements in interventional cardiology, structural heart disease care, women’s heart disease, wireless heart care and more. 

Additionally, the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program at Scripps Clinic trains top candidates to become leaders in cardiovascular medicine, including many who remain at Scripps and provide lifesaving care. For decades, Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla physicians have provided cardiovascular surgery and interventional cardiology services for Kaiser Permanente’s patients in San Diego County. 

“One of the most important things that has grown with cardiology during the last 35 years is personalized care,” says Dr. Teirstein. “The top thing we’re about here in cardiology at Scripps is patient care, and our goal is to take care of patients the way we would take care of a family member.”

“One of the most important things that has grown with cardiology during the last 35 years is personalized care."

Roughly 960,000 people in the US are diagnosed with heart failure each year. Medications and surgery are the standards for treatment, and both have advanced significantly over the decades. 

“Heart failure is the number one reason that people in the Medicare age group are admitted to the hospital, and it affects more than six million people in the United States,” says James Heywood, MD, director, heart failure recovery and research program at Scripps Clinic. “I came here in 2005 to begin a heart failure program to provide specialized care to these patients. It’s hard to overstate how much the field has changed in those 20 years.” 

Scripps cardiovascular teams are nationally recognized for breakthrough work in diagnosing and treating heart failure. Scripps researchers spent decades developing a treatment for amyloid heart disease, which involves an abnormal protein being deposited in the heart. They are leaders in using small implantable devices to remotely monitor, diagnose and treat patients in the early stages of heart failure. They’re also exploring gene therapy to treat heart failure and have several other promising research studies underway. 

“We’re able to save people that we could never save before,” says Dr. Heywood.  

This content appeared in San Diego Health, a publication in partnership between Scripps and San Diego Magazine that celebrates the healthy spirit of San Diego.