Heart Hospital of Austin at St. David's Round Rock recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. From its Hybrid Cardiovascular Operating Room (OR)—a state-of-the-art facility that was the first of its kind in Williamson County—to groundbreaking clinical research, the facility has made great strides in advancing research and technology.

Earlier this year, Heart Hospital of Austin at St. David's Round Rock was chosen as a site for a new clinical study to compare and evaluate current stent graft devices for the repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms, or AAA. As part of the LEOPARD study—which stands for Looking at EVAR Outcomes by Primary Analysis of Randomized Data—Heart Hospital of Austin at St. David's Round Rock performed its first percutaneous endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) in the facility's newly opened Hybrid OR. The facility was the first in the Greater Austin area to enroll patients and to perform this procedure as part of this study.

The facility has also made advancements with treatment for Carotid Artery Disease since opening its doors. Local physicians recently enrolled and treated the hospital's first patient in the ROADSTER 2 study, a follow-up to the original ROADSTER study which resulted in FDA approval of a unique device for treatment of carotid artery stenosis. Through this study, physicians have adopted a new procedure called Transcarotid Artery Revascularization, or TCAR, to treat patients with carotid artery disease in a less invasive, more patient-friendly approach, than other traditional methods.

Community Impact shared news of the Heart Hospital of Austin at Round Rock's opening.