Mount Sinai Heart is a leader in the surgical treatment of aneurysms - a leading cause of death and disability. The faculty of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai has had a longstanding interest in the diseases and surgery of the thoracic and thoracoabdominal aorta. The first series of aortic arch operations was published in l975 by Dr. Randall B. Griepp. Since then the various members of the faculty have published over 260 peer reviewed articles in the national and international medical literature on all aspects of aortic surgery. Most major textbooks one the subject of aortic surgery contain chapters by faculty members. Since 1988 the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery has held a biennial symposium of aortic surgery assembling experts in the field that is acknowledged to be the leading symposium in the world treating the subject of aortic surgery. The last symposium occurred in May of 2008 and was attended, as has its predecessors, by over 1200 surgeons from throughout the world. The last Aortic Symposium was co-sponsored by the American Association of Thoracic Surgery, the largest American society of cardiac surgeons. The proceedings of the last symposium were recently published in a special supplement of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

The Mount Sinai Aortic Surgery Program currently comprises a busy clinical service with over 250 major aortic operations, a growing number of stent placements in the thoracic aorta, and over 400 formal consultations annually. The department maintains the world’s largest database containing data on over 4000 patients with operated and nonsurgically treated patients with aortic disease. A research laboratory funded by the National Institutes of Health carries out ongoing research programs primarily concerned with protection of the brain and spinal cord during major aortic surgery.