Northwest Heart and Lung
At Northwest Heart & Lung, our Spokane heart and lung surgery teams are committed to providing compassionate care with the highest quality. Working as a team of board-certified, highly skilled, and experienced surgeons, we meet our patients' individual and unique surgical needs with nationally recognized services in multiple specialties. As the largest specialty group and only transplant center in the region, you can trust our team of experts to provide world-class heart and lung care.
Northwest Heart and Lung
At Northwest Heart & Lung, our Spokane heart and lung surgery teams are committed to providing compassionate care with the highest quality. Working as a team of board-certified, highly skilled, and experienced surgeons, we meet our patients' individual and unique surgical needs with nationally recognized services in multiple specialties. As the largest specialty group and only transplant center in the region, you can trust our team of experts to provide world-class heart and lung care.
We specialize in cardiovascular surgery, including adult and congenital heart surgery. Our robotic heart surgeons are world renowned. Our surgical assistants and perfusionist specialize in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. Our cardiothoracic organ transplant and mechanical heart team provides extensive care for the most critical heart patients: those who suffer from end-stage heart disease.
Our board-certified cardiothoracic surgeons have the expertise to treat all your non-cancerous (benign) and cancerous (malignant) thoracic conditions. Whether you have been diagnosed with lung cancer, esophageal cancer, or a chest mass, we are here to help.
We take great care in finding and treating unique conditions and prioritizing your recovery. We are the largest robotic thoracic program in the inland northwest and use minimally invasive techniques in 90% of our cases. These surgical techniques typically reduce pain and improve recovery time while causing fewer complications.
Best of all, we are close to home and backed by the resources of Providence Heart Institute and Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. If our specialists determine you need a major surgical procedure, we can treat you at Sacred Heart, which is consistently ranked as the region’s best hospital and receives numerous national awards for cardiac care.
We believe in an ongoing provider-patient relationship that does not disappear when the patient is discharged from the OR. We take ownership of our patients and follow them throughout the health journey.
The board-certified cardiovascular surgeons at Providence Northwest Heart and Lung will evaluate your condition, recommend a personalized treatment plan, and help you learn how to best manage your heart health.
- Valve replacement/valve repairs
- Robotic heart surgery
- Congenital heart surgery, pediatric and adult
- Aortic aneurism repair
- Coronary revascularization
- Cardiac arrhythmia surgery
- Heart transplants and mechanical circulatory support
- Cardiac tumors
- Mitral valve repair
Our board-certified thoracic surgeons provide a variety of specialty services to treat your non-cancerous (benign) and cancerous (malignant) thoracic conditions. Whether you have been diagnosed with lung cancer, esophageal cancer, a chest mass, or other chest condition, we are here to help.
Northwest Heart & Lung, a part of the Providence Heart Institute, is one of the few centers in the western United States to offer robotic mitral valve repairs and replacements. Our mitral valve providers and care team specialize in these surgeries. You can trust our team of experts to provide world-class mitral valve repair care.
- Experience. Doctors with more experience provide patients with better clinical outcomes. The Mitral Foundation recommends selecting a Center where more than 50 mitral valve procedures are performed annually. Our group performs approximately 180 mitral valve surgeries each year, more than any heart program in the region.
- Minimally Invasive Surgery Available. While robotic surgical systems are common in many hospitals, few cardiac surgeons have the skill, training and experience to perform robotic mitral valve repair. Our group was the first in Spokane to perform these procedures and have been caring for patients throughout the Pacific Northwest for nearly two decades. We remain the only group in Spokane to offer robotic heart surgery and have the most experience of any robotic heart surgery group in the northwest.
- Comprehensive Care. We make sure to connect you with the care team you need. Starting with comprehensive diagnostics like advanced imaging, echocardiography, MRI, CT scan and angiography, those results allow us to create an informed treatment plan with your board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon. And then a team of specialists work together in managing your post-op care. You can rest assured you’re getting the most comprehensive care available.
- Personalized, Compassionate Care. Our multidisciplinary team evaluates each patient to determine if your specific condition requires surgery. Based on that assessment, a treatment and follow-up plan are developed that consider your treatment goals as well as your personal care needs and the needs of your family.
Some patients are candidates for minimally invasive mitral valve repair. This approach can provide the same clinical outcomes as traditional surgery but with the added benefits of smaller scars, lower rates of bleeding and transfusion, faster recovery and less need for pain medication.
Patients who require additional cardiac procedures, elderly patients and those who have weak hearts or very diseased arteries may not be candidates for minimally invasive mitral valve repair. Your cardiac surgeon will discuss your options with you.
Robotic mitral valve repair is one type of minimally invasive mitral valve repair that allows the surgeon to use “wristed” robots, giving them better mobility and dexterity when holding the surgical instruments than if they held them themselves. It’s important to ask these questions of your doctor performing your surgery:
Experience matters. Well-qualified mitral valve repair surgeons usually perform a large number of procedures annually, and you should expect your surgeon to do at least 25 repairs a year for the mitral valve disease you have. Our group performs approximately 180 mitral valve surgeries each year, more than any heart program in the region.
You should choose a surgeon who has a high degree of success in repairing valves for your specific condition, especially if you are asymptomatic.
If the number of mitral valve replacements is similar to the number of mitral valve repairs, your surgeon may not be a reference mitral repair surgeon. Reference mitral valve repair surgeons generally repair well over 95% of the valves they encounter.
You want to be certain your mitral valve specialist will take as long as necessary to ensure quality outcomes with your mitral valve repair. It may take several hours to achieve mitral valve repair while a valve replacement can be completed in under an hour.
Residual regurgitation indicates significant leakage following a valve repair. A good repair should eliminate nearly all leakage. Expert mitral valve repair specialists know their regurgitation rate, which is usually well below 10%.
There is a growing body of evidence that indicates many mitral valve regurgitation patients also have an abnormal tricuspid valve, which also needs surgical attention. Many mitral valve surgeons will repair a tricuspid valve at the same time they repair a mitral valve.
Providence Northwest Heart and Lung is conveniently located on the campus of Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. Our clinic is located in Providence Heart Institute, where you have access to free parking. Please use the parking structure attached to Providence Heart Institute with entrances on 6th and 7th Avenue.
- Your primary care physician, internist, cardiologist, or pediatrician will refer you to our office as part of your continued heart care.
- You will be interviewed and examined by the cardiac surgeon, and if you have had any tests, echocardiograms, X-rays, or CT (Computed Tomography) scans done, your surgeon will review the images and reports.
- Then, they will make a recommendation for the next step in your evaluation and treatment. This includes possible surgery, additional testing, or observing your condition over time.
- Your primary care physician, internist, oncologist, or pulmonologist will refer you to our office as part of your continued care.
- You will be interviewed and examined by the thoracic surgeon, and if you have had any X-rays, CT scans, PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans, pulmonary function or other tests done, your surgeon will review the images and reports.
- Then, they will make a recommendation for the next step in your evaluation and treatment. This includes possible surgery, additional testing, or observing your condition over time.
Providence Medical Group accepts most health plans. We bill most insurance plans directly. Be sure you understand what your insurance plan covers, so you are not surprised by unexpected charges. Please bring your insurance card to all appointments.
- Photo ID and insurance card
- Referral from your primary care physician (if required by your insurance plan)
- Co-payment (if required by your insurance plan)
- Full list of medications with dosages (including over-the-counter supplements)
- Detailed history of symptoms and treatments
- List of questions
Please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment to allow time for check-in and paperwork.
Co-pays are due at the time of service. If you are not covered by insurance, full payment is due at the time of service, unless other arrangements have been made.
We accept personal check or credit card (Visa, MasterCard or Discover).
Part of Providence Regional Cancer Center
As part of the largest specialty provider group in the region, our dedicated experts care for patients in six hospitals and nearly 20 outpatient locations throughout the Inland Northwest. Regardless of where you go for care, you have an entire team of cancer experts working hand in hand to provide you with the best possible outcomes.
Meet the Team
At Providence, you'll have access to a vast network of dedicated and compassionate providers who offer personalized care by focusing on treatment, prevention and health education.
