Gates Vascular Institute

Cardiac Services

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Western New York. The dedicated heart specialists at Buffalo General Medical Center and the Gates Vascular Institute offer a full complement of advanced cardiac services to help patients regain their health to the greatest extent possible. Knowledgeable staffs will explain the treatment options available and provide advice throughout diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.

The most state-of-the-art technology and innovative diagnostic and treatment options are utilized in the care of patients. The Gates Vascular Institute and Buffalo General Medical Center cardiac teams are actively involved in many national clinical trials and work tirelessly to discover new and better ways to treat the heart and bring those discoveries to patients.

In fact, Buffalo General Medical Center is the first and only facility in Western New York to perform a new, lifesaving option for cardiac patients who had previously been deemed inoperable.

Recently approved by the FDA, the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a minimally invasive procedure in which an artificial aortic heart valve is attached to a wire frame and guided through the femoral artery by catheter to the heart. Once in place, the wire frame enlarges, which allows the new valve to pump the blood appropriately. To date, the TAVR procedure has reaped excellent outcomes and extended the lives of patients who had previously faced a very limited life expectancy.

Services include (but are not limited to) the following:

Cardiac Surgery Services

• Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) (on and off pump) with endoscopic vein harvesting
• Heart valve repair and replacement
• Transmyocardial laser revascularization
• Repair of adult congenital heart disease
• Pacemaker and defibrillator implants
• Internal cardioverter defibrillator placement

Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (whenever possible)

• Sternal sparing CABG surgery via minithoracotomy
• Valve repair or replacement via minithoracotomy
• Beating heart (off pump) CABG surgery

Complex Cardiac Surgery

• Multiple valves
• Aortic dissection
• Maze procedure and pulmonary vein isolation - for atrial fibrillation
• Septal myectomy for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
• Excision of cardiac tumors
• Thoracic and thoracoabdominal aneurysm stents and repairs

Hybrid / Combined Cardiac Procedures

• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)
• Coronary stent and heart valve surgery
• Carotid stent and heart valve / CABG surgery

These following physicians perform these procedures:

CT Surgery Group
(716) 859-7600
Janerio Aldridge, MD
Hashmat Ashraf, MD
Stephen W. Downing, MD
Gary Grosner, MD

Cardiac Services: Interventional Cardiology

Diagnostic coronary angiography

• Radial access >40%, significantly higher than national average
• FFR – Fractional Flow Reserve
• CFR – Coronary Flow Reserve

These following physicians perform these procedures:

Buffalo Cardiology & Pulmonary Associates (716) 634-5100 Justine Krawczyk, MD Buffalo Heart Group  (716) 835-2966 Michael Banas, MD Robert Gianfagna, MD Judy Joy-Pardi, MD Alan Meholic, MD

Buffalo Medical Group Ranjan Bhayana, MD (716) 630-1164 David Carlson, MD (716) 694-3541 Independent James Conley, MD (716) 859-2981 John Visco, MD (716) 859-2748

Northtowns Cardiology (716) 580-3810 Kishor Phadke, MD UB Cardiology (716) 859-2573 Vijay Iyer, MD Cardiology Group of WNY  (716) 677-6800 Salvatore Calandra, MD Nadeem Haq, MD

Percutaneous Cardiac Interventions

• Coronary artery angioplasty & stenting
• Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)
• Coronary atherectomy
• Coronary rotoblation
• Percutaneous left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) in high risk patients
• Impella for acute heart failure

These following physicians perform these procedures:

Buffalo Heart Group (716) 835-2966 Joseph Gelormini, MD A.R. Zaki Masud, MD Phong Nguyen-Ho, MD Philip Sullivan, MD Buffalo Medical Group Eli Farhi, MD (716) 857-8611 William Morris, MD (716) 857-8659

Independent James Conley, MD (716) 859-2981 John Visco, MD (716) 859-2748 Niagara Frontier Heart Association Neil Dashkoff, MD (716) 894-1255 Northtowns Cardiology (716) 580-3810 Kishor Phadke, MD

UB Cardiology (716) 859-2573 Vijay Iyer, MD Cardiology Group of WNY (716) 677-6800 Salvatore Calandra, MD Nadeem Haq, MD

Cardiac Electrophysiology

• Electrophysiology diagnostic studies (EPS)
• Cardioversion of arrythmias to normal heart rhythm
• Radiofrequency ablations for atrial fibrillationRadiofrequency ablation for SVT arrhythmias
• Radiofrequency ablation for VT
• Cardiac mapping for atrial/ventricular arrhythmiasImplantable cardioverter defibrillator placement
• Pacemaker insertion & lead changes – including biventricular pacemaker
• Loop recorder devise implants

The following physicians perform these procedures:

Buffalo Cardiology & Pulmonary Associates (716) 634-5100 Richard Corbelli, MD Gregorz Rozmus, MD Buffalo Medical Group (716) 630-1484 Chee Hoon Kim, MD Donald Switzer, MD

General Physician, PC (716) 859-1400 Ashish Bhatia, MD UB Cardiology (716) 882-6544 Cevher Ozcan, MD

Structural Heart interventions

• Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)- Hybrid
• Atrial septal defect closure
• Ventricular septal defect closure
• Patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure
• Balloon aortic valvuloplasty

The following physicians perform these procedures:

Buffalo Medical Group
(716) 857-8659
William Morris, MD

UB Cardiology
(716) 859-1784Vijay Iyer, MD, Program Director

Other Vascular interventions

• Vascular stents
  • Renal
  • Iliac
  • Peripheral

The following physicians perform these procedures:

Niagara Frontier Heart Association
Neil Dashkoff, MD
(716) 894-1255

Cardiac Services: Non-Invasive Procedures

To schedule:

Echocardiography (716) 859-2166 Contrast Echo Stress Echo Transesophageal Echo Electrocardiography (716) 859-2166

Event recorder (716) 859-2166 Holter monitor/scanning (716) 859-2166 Stress testing (inclduing nuclear) (716) 859-2166

Tilt table test (716) 859-7058 24 Hour blood pressure monitor (716) 859-7280 CT cardiac angiography (716) 859-2840

Cardiac Services: Heart and Lung Center

Scheduling for all clinics: 
(716) 859-7280

Cardiac Device Management Leon Levinsky, MD Complex Valve Clinic Vijay Iyer, MD

General Cardiology Clinics Carina Alfaro-Franco, MD Stanley Fernandez, MD Susan Graham, MD Joseph Paris, MD Sridhar Vijayasekaran, MD

Heart Failure Center Susan Graham, MD Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic William Gibbons, MD Syncope Consultation & Tilt Table Testing Donald Switzer, MD