Department of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery at University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein provides surgical care for patients with diseases of the heart as well as large and peripheral blood vessels. Coronary surgery is the main focus of the department, and minimally invasive surgery has particular attention such as MIDCAB surgery (minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass surgery) which have been used to treat over 1,400 patients. Heart valve surgeries are also performed through minimally invasive techniques by the skilled, qualified, and experienced surgeons of the department that work closely with the Departments of Radiological Diagnostics and Cardiology. The pediatric unit is in collaboration with the Clinic for Congenital Heart Defects and Pediatric Cardiology to ensure optimal care for infants, children, and adolescents.
Over the past 55 years, the medical staff has performed over 116,650 transplantation surgeries, 11,628 of which are heart transplants while 4,595 operations are lung transplantation surgeries. Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Med. Jochen Creme, the department carried out 297 heart transplants and combined heart-lung transplants in 2016. The vascular and endovascular surgery unit is mainly concerned with the surgical treatment of carotid artery diseases that takes place in one of the two modern hybrid operation rooms of the unit
The Department of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery at University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein is specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of:

• Atherosclerosis
• Aneurysm
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Heart valve regurgitation
• Heart valve stenosis
• Heart valve atresia
• Coronary artery disease
• Carotid artery disease