A few examples showing why Intermountain Healthcare is one of the nation’s most respected heart care organizations.

13 new heart disease genes discovered.

Initially, there were 10 genes known to be related to heart disease. Intermountain Healthcare researchers have been part of an international team that has discovered an additional 13.

New technology. Improved results.

A new magnetic catheter opens up possibilities for heart patients, allowing our heart experts to perform a procedure never before done in the United States: inserting a heart pump during an arrhythmia procedure.

Heart valve replaced via catheter.

Recovery from open heart surgery can be difficult. But now, in certain conditions, replacing a heart valve can be done via catheter, making recovery much easier.

Reduced heart risk, reduced Alzheimer’s risk.

Utilizing data from thousands of past patients, Intermountain researchers have discovered a link between heart health and Alzheimer’s.

Saving lives through education.

There is widespread evidence to show that heart failure medications and devices can improve survival, but results from a new study show that providing patient education is just as important.

Too much vitamin D can hurt your heart.

While previous studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, new research at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center shows that too much vitamin D can lead to the onset of a dangerous heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. The study compares more than 132,000 patients and found the risk of developing atrial fibrillation was two and a half times greater in those with excess levels of vitamin D compared to patients with normal levels.

Fasting can actually help your heart.

Regular fasting may be good for your heart. That’s the finding of a new study from Intermountain Healthcare doctors who looked at the relationship between periodic fasting and cardiovascular disease. The researchers interviewed 200 patients who were undergoing a diagnostic test called angiography, an X-ray exam of the blood vessels and heart chambers that can determine if a person has coronary heart disease. They found that those who fasted regularly were less likely to be diagnosed with heart problems.

Our cancer research is focused on improving care for patients dealing with cancer right now.

Technology that could improve breast cancer diagnosis accuracy.

Sometimes breast cancer scans give back false positives. Intermountain Healthcare has tested and now utilizes new 3-d imaging technology to help reduce the chance of that happening.

52 Cancer Research Trials

Clinical trials are research studies in which people help doctors find ways to improve health and cancer care. Research studies are done with the consent of the patient to help provide reliable information about clinical interventions for preventing, detecting or treating cancer, or for improving the quality of life for patients who have the disease.

If you have cancer, participating in a clinical trial now could not only help you, but also help save someone in the future. Clinical trials give you access to the latest cutting edge cancer therapies, and treatments are almost always covered by insurance. But most importantly, you’ll be helping others in the future beat their cancer. To learn more about cancer clinical trials, see the Intermountain Cancer Research and Clinical Trials.

Our research helps babies arrive safely and stay healthy.

Reducing the chance of unnecessary c-sections

At Intermountain Healthcare, we’ve developed a maternal fetal road map that gives us better information on the stress level of a baby so we can better know if a c-section delivery is necessary.

Less chance of infection in preemie babies, better chance at survival.

Most of us know someone who was a medical miracle at birth; a tiny baby born months early but through the marvel of modern medicine, survived. Now thanks to our doctors, there will be more of those little miracles.

Transplant programs among the most successful in the nation thanks to our unique team approach.

A team approach to transplants ensures better success.

At Intermountain Healthcare, we’ve implemented a team approach in our heart transplant program that ensures patients are more prepared before their transplant and better cared for afterwards.

Years of experience means better survival rates.

For 25 years, Intermountain Healthcare has been leading out in the area of liver and kidney transplantation. We now have one of the most experienced teams in the nation, along with some of the best survival rates.

Our critical care research helps clinicians make decisions that save lives.

A better way to predict – and prevent – blood clots

Blood clots can be blamed for the deaths of around 300,000 people each year in the U.S., which is why caregivers in Intermountain hospitals are vigilant about looking for risk factors of clots. Predicting these clots can be complex, and results are not always accurate, so researchers at Intermountain Medical Center set out to find a better way to predict and prevent them.

These researchers analyzed the medical records of nearly 50,000 patients who suffered from blood clots, and screened for the four most predictive factors of clots: 1) previous blood clot, 2) a doctor’s order for bed rest, 3) a special type of IV called a PICC line, and 4) a cancer diagnosis. They used the data collected to develop a model to help clinicians predict a patient’s risk for developing clots better than a risk assessment tool that already existed – and more effectively prevent the clot.

A method that reduces septic shock (a life-threatening blood infection) deaths by 80%.

Intermountain Medical Center and LDS Hospital have set a new national standard in reducing death from septic shock. By pioneering the implementation of stricter treatment guidelines, a patient’s chance of dying from sepsis and septic shock is reduced by an astounding 80%. The dramatic drop comes three years after Intermountain Healthcare made a goal of treating sepsis patients with a "bundle" of strategies by aggressively identifying patients with the potential for sepsis aggressively and treating them earlier and with more consistency.

Sepsis is a severe illness in which the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria from an infection. Nearly 500,000 patients arrive in U.S. emergency departments each year with sepsis, which begins as an ordinary infection, such as pneumonia or a urinary tract infection.

"With sepsis, the infection affects the whole person, the whole body. Systems begin to shut down and organs fail," says Dr. Todd Allen, lead researcher and emergency medicine physician at Intermountain Medical Center and LDS Hospital. "Once that happens, the risk of death may be up to 50 percent or higher. Physicians have always struggled with sepsis, and once someone gets to the stage of septic shock, mortality rates are alarmingly high. But we've been able to reduce sepsis-related deaths to a ground-breaking, and remarkably low level.”

The "bundle" of strategies used by Intermountain include 11 elements that provide consistency in the early recognition and treatment of sepsis, including specialized blood testing, administration of antibiotics, fluids, and other medications, tight glucose control and protecting the lungs with a standardized ventilator strategy. The bundle was conceived in 2001 as part of a landmark study by another institution. In the years since then, hospital compliance across the country has been spotty, says Dr. Allen. "Intermountain is among the very first health systems to show huge improvements in a large hospital setting. We may lead the world in overall bundle compliance and survival rate.”

We’ve discovered a better way to manage contagious disease within hospitals.

Because hospitals deal with all kinds of health problems in one location, a big concern is keeping contagious disease from spreading from patient to patient. Researchers and specialists at Intermountain Healthcare have developed a tool that helps healthcare providers better manage patients with contagious diseases. It allows them to quickly and correctly determine whether a patient needs to be placed in isolation and if so, which type of isolation based on current CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines.

Using either medical or common descriptions of the initial diagnosis, the caregiver can go to the hospital’s electronic medical record and get information on whether a person needs to be isolated and what type of isolation. Not only that, but the caregiver also receives information on what type of protective gear the provider needs to wear when treating the patient and the infective material and duration of precautions.

Without this information tool, a healthcare provider would need to pull documentation from a number of national sources to make this assessment. Dr. Scott Evans and Dr. Jacob Tripp worked with Intermountain Healthcare Infection Preventionists to develop this decision support tool.