Regional Home

Fort Sanders Regional is Knoxville's highest-rated hospital for heart attack.
In the quality report on heart attack care by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Fort Sanders Regional is rated better than national standards in five out of nine categories.. The next-best Knoxville hospitals exceeded the norms just twice. And some didn't even make it into the ratings. (www.jcaho.org)

Fort Sanders Regional has the most advanced cardiac technologies and medicines, along with the all of the proven conventional treatments. With our team of top cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, nurses, and technologists, we always have the right treatment and the right people to give heart patients the best possible care.

State-of-the-Art Cardiac Diagnostics
The area's first Lightspeed® VCT scanner captures an incredibly precise image of the heart in just five heartbeats, and can detect any of the three most life-threatening heart conditions with a single scan. Vivid 7® echocardiography uses ultrasound to produce a moving cardiac image in real time. Nuclear stress tests find difficult-to-detect problems in the heart's outer covering. Electrocardiograms provide reliable diagnostics, and stress tests performed right in the hospital assure immediate care if a problem is discovered.

The Latest Medicines
Physicians at Fort Sanders Regional participate in clinical trials of new medicines for a wide range of heart conditions. Three potentially life-saving medicines for unstable angina and heart attacks are currently being tested. A new trial is investigating a drug to prevent heart attacks and strokes in acute coronary syndrome patients.

Minimally-Invasive Treatment
An Innova 2000® digital cath lab gives cardiologists unprecedented image clarity to help assure accurate assessments and ideal placements of stents and balloon angioplasties. Radiofrequency ablation controls rapid heartbeats with radio waves. Drug-eluting stents open blocked arteries and help prevent a recurrence of the blockage. Now new valves can be implanted and holes in the heart wall repaired without a major incision.

New Capabilities for Cardiovascular Surgery
Fort Sanders Regional cardiovascular surgeons are on the leading edge of heart surgery with techniques like beating heart bypass and minimally-invasive vein harvesting, to reduce side effects and shorten recovery times. Knoxville's first Da Vinci™ robotically-assisted surgery, gives surgeons the capability to repair torn heart valves with previously impossible precision without opening the patient's chest.