Honoring Scott M. Goldman, MD, FACS, and Francis P. Sutter, DO, FACS, and garnering support for our cardiac surgery program

Advancing the future of cardiovascular care

Scott M. Goldman, MD, FACS, and Francis P. Sutter, DO, FACS, are world renowned heart surgeons who have transformed the field of cardiac surgery and positioned Lankenau Medical Center, part of Main Line Health, among the top cardiovascular medicine and surgery programs in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Now, we are thrilled to launch a fundraising campaign recognizing the vast impact these surgeons have had on coronary and valvular heart disease. The Goldman-Sutter Cardiac Surgery Fund will further innovations in education, technology, training and research at Lankenau and continue our groundbreaking work in minimally invasive and robotic surgery.

For more than two decades, Drs. Goldman and Sutter have pioneered and refined minimally invasive and robotic surgical techniques, trained hundreds of health care providers, and improved the quality of life for countless patients through advanced clinical, research and educational efforts.

Through clinical trials, patients at Main Line Health have access to therapies that are not available anywhere else in the region. Lankenau Medical Center currently offers one of the largest portfolios of minimally invasive valve repair options in the country.

Drs. Goldman and Sutter have personally taught minimally invasive and robotic techniques to cardiac surgeons from top institutions worldwide, who then bring these skills back to their communities. The ripple effect of their commitment to education and the resulting clinical care is staggering.

Honoring their legacy

The Goldman-Sutter Cardiac Surgery Fund will help carry on their legacy of innovation by investing in the latest technology, recruiting and training top talent, and expanding available treatment options. Through this fundraising campaign, we will honor Drs. Goldman and Sutter and their contributions to cardiac surgery, and ensure Lankenau Medical Center's continued excellence in this field.

We hope you will partner with us in this effort by making a charitable donation toward the campaign.

Pioneering surgery, advancing cardiovascular medicine

From their earliest days in practice, Drs. Goldman and Sutter have collected and analyzed patient data, using that information to enhance procedures and improve patient outcomes. They continually questioned the status quo, making modifications that equaled or exceeded outcomes achieved through existing standards of care — from reinventing a device for tying knots during cardiac procedures to using brain oximetry during surgery to reduce the risk of stroke.

Like many surgical pioneers, they were often ahead of the curve — growing their reputation and earning them respect across the medical community. Their commitment to innovation sets them apart from other heart surgeons who continue to hold fast to the techniques they were originally taught. It's a key reason only 20% of all cardiac surgeries performed nationwide use a minimally invasive approach compared to more than 60% at Lankenau Medical Center.

Beating heart surgery

Traditional open-heart surgery involves a lengthy incision down the breastbone, stopping the heart, and placing the patient on a heart-lung machine to keep blood pumping. In the late 1990s, Dr. Sutter began performing open chest surgery without stopping the patient's heart, known as off-pump or beating heart surgery. In 2005, he performed his first robotic assisted beating heart CABG, through a 1.5 inch incision. Dr. Sutter has since performed over 2,700 of these procedures and is the most experienced, minimally invasive robotic heart bypass surgeon in the country.

Worldwide, 90% of surgeons perform coronary bypass procedures by opening the chest and stopping the heart, and only 10% perform these procedures off-pump. Lankenau Medical Center is among the 1% of programs that perform these procedures off-pump and with a surgical robot, offering impressive surgical outcomes and quicker recovery times for our patients.

At the forefront of valve repair

During his last year as a surgical resident, Dr. Goldman heard a French surgeon talk about a system he developed for mitral valve repair. At the time, no one in the world was attempting to repair, rather than replace, a diseased heart valve.

Dr. Goldman was fascinated and began teaching himself mitral valve repair. He became so skilled, he was soon receiving referrals from cardiologists across the region. By the early '90s, research confirmed that mitral valve repair is safer than replacement, yet few heart surgeons were offering this option.

Through the mid–late '90s, Dr. Goldman continued refining his techniques, developing and perfecting endoscopic (minimally invasive) mitral valve repair. To this day, he is still among the world's leading mitral valve surgeons.

Dr. Goldman championed to establish the Structural Heart Program at Lankenau Medical Center, which uses advanced, minimally invasive and transcatheter approaches to treat aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve disease and other heart defects. His team was among the first in the region to perform transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and is in the top 10% of TAVR teams in the nation, performing nearly 300 TAVR procedures a year — and growing.

Lankenau was also among the first centers to have access to MitraClip^®, a minimally invasive treatment option for individuals with mitral valve regurgitation (leaky heart valve). Lankenau continues to be a leader regionally and nationally in transcatheter, non-surgical mitral valve repair and replacement options through its extensive research program.