Just weeks after opening its doors, the St. Luke’s Heart Hospital has reached another major milestone: the completion of its first cardiac surgery. The complex open-heart procedure marks another important first for the region’s dedicated destination for heart and vascular care.
The procedure was performed in one of the Heart Hospital’s new cardiac operating rooms by a multidisciplinary team of cardiac surgeons, anesthesia professionals, nurses, perfusionists, technologists and support staff. The cardiac surgery team replaced the patient’s aortic valve and repaired an aneurysm in the ascending aorta, a major artery that carries blood from the heart.
By addressing two serious heart conditions during one operation, the procedure provided the patient with comprehensive treatment from a highly specialized cardiac surgery team. It also demonstrated the level of complex cardiac care now available close to home at the St. Luke’s Heart Hospital at the Anderson Campus.
“This was a meaningful milestone for our entire team,” said Jose D. Amortegui, MD, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at St. Luke’s University Health Network, who performed the procedure. “Completing our first cardiac surgery reflects years of planning, preparation and investment in the future of cardiovascular care. It demonstrates what is possible when highly skilled specialists work together in an environment designed specifically for heart patients. This Heart Hospital was built for moments like this.”
The milestone follows a growing series of firsts since the Heart Hospital opened, including its first patients and first procedures in the cardiac catheterization and interventional radiology labs. Each represents another step toward expanding access to advanced heart and vascular care for patients across the region.
“When we envisioned the Heart Hospital, our goal was to bring advanced expertise, innovative technology and comprehensive cardiovascular care together under one roof,” Dr. Amortegui added. “Every milestone reinforces the value this hospital brings to our patients, their families and the communities we serve. And this is just the beginning.”
St. Luke’s Heart Hospital brings leading physicians, advanced technology and dedicated clinical teams together in one location to provide exceptional heart and vascular care close to home.
For more information about St. Luke’s Heart & Vascular, visit sluhn.org/heart.
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of $5 billion. With 24,000 employees at 16 hospital campuses and 400 outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley’s biggest employer.
The Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation’s oldest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows. Additionally, the St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences opened in 2026.
In a 2025 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, St. Luke’s received the highest quality score of the nation’s three highest performing health systems. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke’s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.
St. Luke’s has been named a Leapfrog Group Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. In 2026, all of the Network’s eligible hospital campuses were awarded Medicare’s highest ratings for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. The Network also earned straight A’s for safety from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 12 years in a row, including in 2026 when the Network was identified as THE #1 MEDIUM-SIZE HEALTH SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
