NewHeart Veterinary Cardiovascular CenterNewHeart Veterinary Cardiovascular Center

Veterinary Cardiovascular Center · Gangnam

More Time for UsMore Time, Together

Book a visit
A dog resting its chin on a clinician's gloved hand

  1. We rebuild the damaged valve and chordae to restore the structure of the heart.

    Learn more

  2. Open-heart surgery that widens an outflow tract narrowed by obstructive HCM.

  3. While we operate on a stopped heart, the bypass machine takes over the work of the heart and lungs.

  4. From the moment surgery ends, 24-hour monitoring follows every step of recovery.

The road this team has travelled

From Korea's first open-heart surgery in 2020 to NewHeart

  • The surgical team performing open-heart surgery
  • A color Doppler echocardiogram
  • A dog resting its chin on a clinician's gloved hand
  • Clinicians checking on a patient in the ward
  • A veterinarian talking with an owner in the consultation room
  • A clinician treating a patient at the treatment table
  • A surgeon wearing loupes repairing the valve
  • A veterinarian with dogs at a shelter
0
The hundredth open-heart surgery, November 2025
0%
Survival to discharge, late 2025
3–4days
From surgery to discharge for most patients

  1. 2020

    Korea's first open-heart surgery

    Helix Animal Cardiac Surgery Center

    The first operation in Korea to stop the heart on bypass and repair the mitral valve. Fourteen were performed that year.

  2. 2023.12

    The first patient, Haku

    NEL Animal Heart Center

    A Maltese given months to live at end-stage disease. Still well today.

    Haku looking straight at the camera

    Patient story

    “Please operate on Haku's heart. We accept the risk. It is better than waiting for a death without hope.”
    “When Haku breathed easily again and looked me in the eye, I could not put the feeling into words.”

    Haku's guardian

    First mitral valve repair at a local hospital · then at NEL Animal Medical Center

  3. 2025.07

    First reported worldwide

    Surgery for infective endocarditis

    NEL Animal Heart Center

    Infective endocarditis treated with valve augmentation.

  4. 2025.11

    One hundred open-heart surgeries

    NEL Animal Heart Center

    The first team in Korea to reach a hundredth open-heart surgery. Survival to discharge that half-year was 98%.

  5. 2026

    NewHeart Veterinary Cardiovascular Center

    Gangnam, Seoul

    The same team opens a center devoted to cardiac surgery.

Includes operations the team performed at its previous hospitals. Survival to discharge is for the second half of 2025.

Firsts in cats

  • First reported worldwide

    Surgery for feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

    Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a cat, treated surgically.

  • First reported worldwide

    A cat with AVSD and cor triatriatum together

    Surgical correction of a cat with two congenital defects at once (AVSD and CTS).

Emergency care available

If they struggle to breathe or collapse,call us first

We respond 24 hours a day to heart disease and breathing difficulty only. Call before you leave and tell us what you see, so we are ready when you arrive.

Call nowEmergency guide

Emergency line

02-6958-7546

Emergency hours

24 hours · emergency care for heart disease and breathing difficulty

Emergency entrance

2F DY Building, 233 Hakdong-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

In the press

The team's record, in articles and broadcasts

Getting here

We see patients by appointment only, so please book before you visit

Address

2F DY Building, 233 Hakdong-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Phone

02-6958-7546

Hours

09:00–17:00 · by appointment only

Contact

Message us on KakaoTalk

Open in Google Maps ↗
Emergency guideBook a visit