Dr. Ricardo A. Lazala - Perfusion Services

Ricardo A. Lazala, MD
Assistant Professor (Pending)
Senior Director of Clinical Services
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
The Mount Sinai Medical Center
New York, NY 10029

With over 22 years of healthcare experience, Dr. Ricardo Lazala leads the Cardiothoracic Surgery Perfusion Services team. Consisting of 10 nationally Certified Cardiovascular Perfusionists (C.C.P.’s), these medical professionals are licensed to operate extracorporeal machinery, most commonly the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit, often known as the heart-lung machine, which is used when patients undergo most open-heart surgeries.

During cardiopulmonary bypass, the heart is stopped and the lungs are motionless, the patient is kept alive through the care of the perfusionists tending the heart-lung machine. Perfusionists are responsible for the setup and operation of the heart-lung machine and any other circulation equipment necessary to support or temporarily replace a patient’s respiratory or circulatory functions.

Outside the operating room, Perfusionists are responsible for the management of assist devices such as temporary life-support (ECMO) extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation for adult or pediatric patients with heart and lung defects. ECMO bypass can run for a period of few days or few weeks to allow time for the patient to recover or be used as a bridge to transplantation.

Our diversified team is fluent in many languages such as, English, Spanish, German, Hindi and Turkish.