Staff at RPA Cardiology have been at the forefront of advances in heart healthcare with significant milestones achieved in the past 70 years.
 

1949 – official opening of the Hallstrom Institute of Cardiology.

1949 – cardiac catheterisation laboratory opens for testing the right side of the heart by  catheterisation of the heart.

1950s – general cardiology outpatient clinics established.

1957 – first open-heart surgery performed in NSW at RPA.

1958 – catheterisations of the left side of the heart begin and early surgical procedures for the heart also start.

1965 – diagnostic tests for heart blockages - coronary angiography – begins; as does the first heart bypass operations, known as coronary artery bypass grafting.

1971 – first Coronary Care Unit in NSW opens at RPA.

1974 – first studies of the electrical system of the heart are performed at RPA.

1977 – ultrasound testing of the heart (echocardiography) is established.

1981 – balloon procedures to open heart blockages in the catheterisation lab begin.

1988 – adult congenital heart disease clinic established at RPA, for young adults born with heart problems.

1994 – first arrhythmia ablation procedure, to stop dangerous heart palpitations, performed at RPA.

1998 – first minimally invasive hole-in-the-heart (atrial septal defect) closure in NSW performed at RPA.

2002 – 24-hour interventions for patients who have had an acute heart attack become treatment of choice and available at RPA.

2009 – first transcatheter aortic valve implantation performed at RPA, as a minimally invasive option instead of open-heart surgery for valve replacement.