Dr. Hirohisa Ikegami, MD

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Get to know Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Hirohisa Ikegami, who serves patients in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

A specialist in minimally invasive cardiac surgery, advanced mechanical cardiac support device, and heart transplant, Dr. Ikegami is licensed to practice medicine in New York and New Jersey. He has a broad range of surgical capabilities but is very experienced in minimally invasive surgery, complex cardiac surgery, and advanced heart failure therapy. Currently, he provides his services at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. 

In addition to maintaining a clinical practice, he has been serving as an Assistant Professor of Surgery, Surgical Director of Cardiac Transplant and Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) Program within the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery at the Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School since 2017.

As such, Dr. Ikegami offers minimally invasive robotic CABG surgery in addition to minimally invasive cardiac valve surgery. The minimally invasive CABG procedure is most applicable to performing one-vessel bypass [left internal mammary artery (LIMA) – left anterior descending artery (LAD)] robotically. In this procedure, the robot is used to assist in harvesting the LIMA and making it available to use as a bypass. A mini-thoracotomy is made on the anterior left chest under the breast and a standard LIMA-LAD anastomosis is made under direct vision, usually off-pump.

Excelling in his efforts, Dr. Ikegami offers the most advanced surgical options available for patients with advanced heart failure, whether needing a bridge to transplant or to extend life/improve quality of life when transplantation is not an option. Mechanical circulatory support options available at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital include durable ventricular assist devices such as HeartMate 3™ (Abbott Laboratories), temporary ventricular assist device such as Impella pump (Abiomed Inc.) and TandemHeart™ with ProtekDuo™ cannula (LivaNova), and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Before embarking on his professional journey, Dr. Ikegami received his medical degree from the Shiga University of Medical Science in Japan. He completed his residency training in general surgery and cardiovascular surgery in Japan. In 2008, he came to the United States to do a super specialty training at Emory University followed by an Advanced Fellowship in Adult Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern University, where he gained experience in minimally invasive cardiac surgery. He then trained under the guidance of Dr. Yoshifumi Naka, the Director of Mechanical Circulatory Support and Cardiac Transplantation at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, as an attending surgeon specializing in ventricular assist devices, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, and cardiac transplantation.

Dedicated to his profession, Dr. Ikegami’s research has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, with publications accepted by the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Innovations, General Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery, The Texas Heart Institute Journal, and the Japanese Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery.

Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in the surgical treatment of organs inside the thorax. Cardiothoracic surgeons are medical doctors who specialize in surgical procedures inside the thorax, which may involve the heart, lungs, esophagus, and other organs in the chest. Alongside performing surgery, they also diagnose and treat diseases of these organs.

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