Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Care

From medication and lifestyle management to surgery and heart transplant, Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute offers the most advanced treatment to manage advanced heart failure. We are the only heart transplant program in the Charlotte, NC region and the first in the Carolinas to transplant a total artificial heart.

Our heart transplant program offers top outcomes, including consistently shorter hospital stays and some of the best transplant survival rates in the nation. For the treatment of advanced heart failure we are in the top 10% in the nation for heart care, putting us on par with the best hospitals and healthcare systems in the country. That means you can access the very best care right here in the Carolinas.

Why choose Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute

The specialists treating heart failure at Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute are the most experienced in the area. What does being #1 in the region for heart care look like?

• We manage more than 3,000 heart failure patients every year.
• We are the region's only heart transplant center.
• We've been performing heart transplants for more than 35 years.
• We are the only program in the region to receive the High-Performance distinction (2021-22) from U.S. News & World Report across all 6 procedures and conditions related to cardiology and heart surgery - including heart failure.

Team Approach

It's not just our doctors who are best-in-class. Our award-winning team includes specialized experts who address every aspect of your heart health. Our goal? Lowering your chances of returning to the hospital after you've received treatment. Our heart failure teams include:

• Board-certified heart failure and transplant physicians
• Specialized heart failure and heart transplant-certified nurses
• Pharmacists
• Imaging specialists
• Dietitians
• Geneticists
• Social workers

Your First Appointment

After you’ve been referred to a cardiologist at Sanger Heart & Vascular, your primary care doctor continues to be a key member of your healthcare team. At your first visit to Sanger, you will meet your heart doctor and may go through a series of health checks and diagnostic tests.

Treatment Near Your Home or Work

With 4 heart failure clinics and 2 outreach clinics across North Carolina and South Carolina, you're never far from world-class heart care. Our heart failure clinics are located in Charlotte, Pineville and Concord, NC, and Greenville, SC. Our outreach clinics are in Shelby and Monroe, NC.

What We Treat

Heart failure can occur because of a variety of health conditions, including coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. The Sanger heart failure specialists treat every type of heart failure and its related conditions, including: 

• Congestive heart failure
• Left-sided heart failure (systolic failure, diastolic failure)
• Right-sided heart failure
• Heart failure brought on by cancer (cardio-oncology)
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
• Pulmonary hypertension

Services & Treatments

You can manage heart failure, and the right team makes it possible. Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute’s world-class cardiac team offers the full range of heart failure treatment options, including:

• Medication therapy and medication management
• Minimally invasive surgery to help repair the specific cause of your heart failure
• Left ventricular assist device (LVAD)
• Total artificial heart (TAH)
  • LVAD and TAH both give you the critical treatment you need until you’re able to get a heart transplant.
• Heart transplant, right here at the region's only heart transplant program
• Implantable devices and defibrillators to reduce the risk or severity of an irregular heartbeat brought on by your heart failure
  • Plus 24/7 remote monitoring of your device by our team

For Providers

Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute's multi-disciplinary heart failure team takes a collaborative approach with our referring physicians. Our expert care is tailored to your patient's needs every step of the way.