From first-of-its-kind cardiac procedure milestones to new AI and technology integrations, here are 15 firsts that happened in the cardiology space, as reported by Becker’s in 2025.
Note: This list is not exhaustive.
- Louisville, Ky.-based Norton Heart & Vascular Institute performed Kentucky’s first transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement using the Evoque system.
- Surgeons at Wilmington, Del.-based ChristianaCare were the first in the state to offer thoracoabdominal branch endoprosthesis (TAMBE), a new minimally invasive treatment for complex aortic aneurysms.
- The NCH Rooney Heart Institute, part of Naples (Fla.) Comprehensive Health, became the first hospital in the U.S. to adopt both of Caristo Diagnostics’ AI tools for early heart disease detection.
- Athens, Tenn.-based Starr Regional Medical Center completed its first implantation of Medtronic’s Micra leadless pacemaker, a device for patients with slow heart rhythms.
- Cardiologists at UAB St. Vincent’s, part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System, became the first in the Greater Birmingham area to use sound wave technology to treat severely calcified peripheral artery disease.
- Miami-based Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Heart Institute became the first in South Florida to offer the FDA-approved Minima stent, a first-of-its-kind cardiac heart stent designed to expand as a child grows.
- Physicians at Atlanta-based Emory University treated the first patients in an investigational device exemption trial evaluating a Simpsons Interventions device for coronary chronic total occlusions.
- Charleston (W.Va.) Area Medical Center, an affiliate of Vandalia Health, in collaboration with the CAMC Clinical Trials Center, is the first site in the world activated for the Bioflow-48 stent study and has enrolled the first three patients globally.
- Douglas, Ga.-based Coffee Regional Medical Center implanted its first Micra pacemaker, a leadless device said to be the smallest pacemaker in the world.
- Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera, Calif., successfully performed its first procedure using the Medtronic Harmony transcatheter pulmonary valve.
- Electrophysiologists at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin became the first in the U.S. to implant an FDA-approved leadless system for cardiac resynchronization therapy.
- Two physicians at the University of Cincinnati Health completed the first implant of a fully tissue-engineered tricuspid valve in Ohio.
- Physicians at the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute completed the world’s first robotic transcatheter aortic valve replacement explant and aortic valve replacement.
- Shailendra Singh, MD, performed the first procedure in the U.S. using GE Healthcare’s 3DStent software.
- Interventional cardiology training was added to the National Resident Matching Program for the 2025 applicant year, marking the first time that the specialty has been added to The Match.
