Introductory note
Dear all,
It is my pleasure to greet you on my own behalf and on behalf of the staff of the Cardiology Clinic. Our mission is to provide state-of-the-art treatment for patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. Our vision is to be the best Clinic in the region and to provide excellent working conditions to our employees. The core values we stand for are safety and quality, teamwork, inventiveness, integrity and empathy in providing health care. We believe that we never reach the peak, but that we can always do something more and better for the benefit of patients and society as a whole. Our success is measured by the satisfaction of patients and all physicians, technicians and other clinic staff. Welcome.
Yours sincerely,
Prof. Dr. Petar Otasevic
Head of the Clinic for Cardiology
HISTORY
The Department of Cardiology started working in 1978. The first head of department was Prim. dr Petar Pejčić. As a result of the development of the Institute, the Clinic for Cardiology was established in 1993 under the management of prof. dr Milutin Mirić. Due to the continuous expansion in the scope and complexity of work, in the years that followed the organizational structure of the Clinic became more complex. In the previous period, the duty of the head of the Clinic was performed by prof. dr Aleksandar Nešković, dr sci. med. Lazar Angelkov and prof. Dr. Ljiljana Jovović.
ABOUT THE CLINIC – SCOPE OF WORK
The Clinic of Cardiology focuses on interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, non- invasive cardiology, cardiac insufficiency, congenital heart defects, primary prevention and preoperative preparation of patients.
The Clinic currently employs 43 specialists and 21 residents. Thirteen (13) doctors of science are among the Clinic staff. The clinic is a teaching base of the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade (2 full-time professors, 3 associate professors, 3 clinical assistants) and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka (4 assistant professors).
The clinic has 90 beds in the inpatient section and seven outpatient units within the polyclinic. We also have 3 catheterization rooms, 1 electrophysiology room and 6 state-of- the-art echocardiographic devices.
During 2019, 8534 patients were admitted to the Cardiology Clinic, and 20465 to the outpatient units. 3865 cardiac angiography procedures, 1854 PCI, 35 percutaneous closures of ASD/PFO and 22 TAVI procedures were performed at the Department of Interventional Cardiology. The Department of Electrophysiology performed 540 ablations and 344 implantations of stimulation devices. The Department of Non-invasive Cardiology performed 11028 transthoracic and 1455 transesogeal echocardiographic examinations. Current priorities of the Clinic are to increase the number and to further develop complex percutaneous and electrophysiological interventions.
Further development of structural cardiac interventions is foreseen in the future, together with an increase in the scope and complexity of procedures in the field of cardiac insufficiency and congenital heart defects in adult patients. Further development of electrophysiology is also planned.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
The Clinic for Cardiology has the following organizational units:
- Department of Cardiology
- Coronary unit
- Department of Interventional Cardiology
- Department of Electrophysiology and Electrostimulation
- Department of Non-invasive Cardiology
- Department of Preoperative Patient Preparation
- Center for Structural Heart Interventions
- Center for Congenital Heart Defects in adults
- Cardiac Insufficiency Office
- Hypertension Office
MOST SIGNIFICANT RESULTS
Certainly, the most significant achievements of the Cardiology Clinic in the previous four decades are tens of thousands of patients whom we have helped have better and longer life. We are also proud of the fact that the interventional cardiology program is among the leading programs in the region in terms of the number and complexity of procedures. We have performed the largest number of percutaneous aortic valve implant procedures and ASD/PFO closures in Serbia. Our doctors annually perform the largest number of extremely complex electrophysiological procedures in Southeast Europe. The Department of Non- Invasive Cardiology routinely uses state-of-the-art echocardiographic techniques to ensure appropriate diagnosis and assist in performing therapeutic procedures. The number of 2,500 open heart surgeries per year would certainly not be possible to achieve without the commitment and hard work of medical doctors in preoperative patient preparation. However, we should not forget that today’s top results would not be possible without relying on the work of our predecessors. Therefore, as a reminder, it should be mentioned that the first coronary angiography was performed in 1977, the first balloon dilatation of coronary arteries in 1981, the first dilatation of the aortic valve in 1986, the first intracoronary stent implantation in 1996 and the first electrophysiological procedure also in 1996.
