The Heart Centre is an active educational centre at all levels of education and training. The Centre runs residency and doctoral study programmes in cardiology as well as in cardiac, thoracic, cardiothoracic and vascular medicine. Fourth-year medical students at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences are introduced to the fundamentals of diagnosing and treating cardiac, thoracic, and vascular diseases through the compulsory course “Cardiac, Thoracic and Peripheral Vascular Diseases”.
The aim of the compulsory course “Cardiac, Thoracic and Peripheral Vascular Diseases” is to prepare the students to define, analyse, explain, and relate the most common cardiovascular and thoracic syndromes and diseases. During the course, students learn to recognise, diagnose, and initiate initial treatment when cardiovascular and thoracic diseases and syndromes present, as well as to identify acute, life‑threatening conditions, provide first-line treatment, and plan further diagnostic and treatment strategies. Upon completion of this course, students possess the prerequisites enabling them to recognise, diagnose, and treat acute and chronic cardiovascular and thoracic diseases and syndromes, understand issues of disease prevention and the importance of rational use of medicines. Moreover, the students will develop the ability to communicate information clearly and understandably to patients and their relatives. Student competences are developed in line with the medical doctor’s job standard approved by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania. The programme also develops the students’ general competences (working independently and in a team, empathy, ability to resolve conflict situations, working in an international and multicultural environment, etc.).
The Heart Centre’s teaching staff deliver elective sixth-year modules (invasive cardiology, current issues in cardiology, etc.) and supervise research projects for students and resident doctors.
Each year, the Centre organises postgraduate development courses and continuing education for internal medicine physicians, cardiologists, and cardiac, thoracic, and vascular surgeons, and hosts scientific and practical conferences. The Heart Centre is also open to an international audience: international students and visiting doctors undertake placements here to enhance their knowledge.
Between 2022 and 2026, the Heart Centre has been conducting the research theme “Determining the significance of risk factors, morphological and functional parameters, biochemical, immunological and genetic markers for the early diagnosis, treatment, disease course and outcome prediction of cardiovascular diseases”. Research activities focus on the early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, such as ischaemic heart disease, cardiac rhythm and conduction disorder, acquired and congenital heart defects, infective endocarditis, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, and rare cardiac and vascular diseases – treatment optimisation and improvement of long-term outcomes, through the introduction of new non-invasive and invasive diagnostic and treatment methods and new anti-ischaemic, anti-arrhythmic, antithrombotic and other medicines. In accordance with Good Clinical Practice guidelines, various clinical trials of medicines and interventional procedures are carried out at the Heart Centre.
Surgical and interventional research directions include improving surgical treatment methods for ischaemic heart disease (using autogenous arterial bypass grafts), reconstructive and replacement cardiac valve surgery (using biological and mechanical prostheses), refining surgical and endovascular treatment of the aorta, its branches and major thoracic and peripheral vessels, improving myocardial protection methods, expanding minimally invasive and off-pump revascularisation procedures, and assessing and optimising the risk of complex cardiac and vascular operations, including surgery in patients with low ejection fraction. Thoracic and vascular surgery directions are also being developed, including video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery techniques; the treatment of thoracic trauma and oncological and infectious-inflammatory diseases; surgical and endovascular treatment of arterial and venous diseases of the legs, diabetic foot, aortic aneurysms, carotid, and mesenteric vascular pathology; and the formation and reconstruction of fistulas for patients with impaired renal function.
Research also includes analysing and improving practical diagnostic and treatment algorithms, developing, and implementing unified clinical principles, comprehensive management of patients with comorbidities (for example, diabetes mellitus), and developing and applying long-term prognostic and surgical risk models in clinical practice.