Donald D. Glower Jr., MD

My Locations

Duke Heart Transplant Clinic - Clinic 2F/2G

40 Duke Medicine Cir
Clinic 2F/2G

Durham, NC 27710-4000

Office: 919-681-5816 Get Directions

Duke University Hospital

2301 Erwin Rd

Durham, NC 27710

Get Directions

About Me

Learn More About Me

My particular area of interest is what we call structural heart disease in adults. That usually involves valve problems, things like muscle bound hearts, tumors of the heart or sometimes arrhythmias. Another area of interest for me is minimally invasive surgery, which involves entering the heart area through the ribs on the side rather than through the breast bone, either manually with a camera or robotically. Surgeons are very hands-on people. We like doing things. But most of all we like helping people, talking with patients and their families, and helping them make up their minds about whether to have a procedure done, what kind of procedure to have, and helping them get through the procedure afterwards. That’s what we really enjoy doing. That’s really satisfying.

School of Medicine Departments and Divisions

Surgery
- Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery

Current Appointments and Affiliations

Professor of Surgery, Surgery, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery 1999

Languages

English

Areas of Expertise

Maze Procedure
Minimally Invasive Valve Surgery
Mitral Repair
Robotic Valve Surgery
Tricuspid Valve Surgery

Training

Board Certifications

American Board of Thoracic Surgery, Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery

Residency

Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 1980-1987

Education

MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Maryland), 1980

Fellowship

Thoracic Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 1987-1989

Clinical Focus and Research

My Research Interests

I specialize in minimally invasive heart valve surgery, treatment of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (muscle bound heart), surgical maze procedure for atrial fibrillation, and cardiac tumors. Duke has one of the world's largest experiences with mini-thoracotomy surgery on the aortic, mitral, or tricuspid valves to avoid a breastbone incision.

Publications and Grants

Percutaneous or Surgical Mitral Valve Repair in Patients with Primary Mitral Regurgitation whose mitral valve has been determined to be suitable for correction by MV repair surgery awarded by Evalve, Inc 2021 - 2033
Medtronic Cardiac Surgery Post Market Clinical Follow-Up Registry awarded by Medtronic, Inc. 2020 - 2032
Abbott CRD 985 Annuplasty awarded by St. Jude Medical Inc. 2021 - 2024

Barac, Yaron D., Rahul S. Loungani, Richard Sabulsky, Brittany Zwischenberger, Jeffrey Gaca, Keith Carr, and Donald D. Glower. “Robotic versus port-access mitral repair: A propensity score analysis.” J Card Surg 36, no. 4 (April 2021): 1219–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocs.15342.
Kar, Saibal, Ted Feldman, Atif Qasim, Alfredo Trento, Samir Kapadia, Wesley Pedersen, D Scott Lim, et al. “Five-year outcomes of transcatheter reduction of significant mitral regurgitation in high-surgical-risk patients.” Heart 105, no. 21 (November 2019): 1622–28. https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2017-312605.
Chhatriwalla, Adnan K., Sreekanth Vemulapalli, David R. Holmes, Dadi Dai, Zhuokai Li, Gorav Ailawadi, Donald Glower, et al. “Institutional Experience With Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair and Clinical Outcomes: Insights From the TVT Registry.” JACC Cardiovasc Interv 12, no. 14 (July 22, 2019): 1342–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcin.2019.02.039.

Kisslo, J., J. D. Rivera, D. Adams, B. G. Mackenson, A. Armour, A. Davis, J. Lander, and D. D. Glower. “Mitral Valve Disease.” In Echocardiography, Second Edition, 199–296, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71617-6_10.
Glower, D. D. “Diagnostic Signs of Cardiac Tamponade.” In Sabiston and Spencer Surgery of the Chest: 2-Volume Set, 1675–90, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-24126-7.00095-8.
Glower, D. D. “Tricuspid valve replacement.” In Cardiothoracic Surgery Review, 272–73, 2012.

Zwischenberger, Brittany A., Carmelo Milano, John Haney, Jeffrey G. Gaca, Jacob Schroder, Keith Carr, and Donald D. Glower. “Durability of porcine and pericardial prostheses in tricuspid valve replacement.” In JTCVS Open, 21:78–87, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjon.2024.06.017.
Williams, Adam R., Mary E. Moya-Mendez, Sachin Mehta, Andrew Vekstein, J Kevin Harrison, Carmelo A. Milano, Ryan P. Plichta, et al. “Infarct exclusion repair of postmyocardial infarction ventricular septal rupture with a hybrid patch and septal occluder device compared with patch only.” In JTCVS Tech, 22:228–36, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjtc.2023.07.022.
Duran, Jessica, Vishal Rao, Anna Giczewska, Karen E. Chiswell, G Michael Felker, Andrew Wang, Donald D. Glower, Jeffrey Gaca, Kishan S. Parikh, and Sreekanth Vemulapalli. “BEDSIDE RISK PREDICTION OF ADVERSE OUTCOMES IN MEDICALLY TREATED PATIENTS WITH SEVERE TRICUSPID REGURGITATION.” In JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY, 81:1973–1973, 2023.

Clinical Trials

Medtronic Cardiac Device Registry

IRB#

PRO00104466

CTSN PRIMARY Trial (Mitral Valve Regurgitation)

IRB#

PRO00110245,

NCT#

NCT05051033

Ratings and Reviews

The Patient Rating score is an average of all responses to care provider related questions on our nationally-recognized Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey. Learn more about our survey process. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best score.

Overall Provider Rating

4.89 out of 5

202 ratings, 27 reviews

Patient Reviews

Patient comments are gathered from our Press Ganey Patient Survey and displayed in their entirety.
Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy

Insurance

Duke Health contracts with most major health insurance carriers and transplant networks, including the ones listed below. Before scheduling your appointment, we strongly recommend you contact your insurance company to verify that the Duke Health location or provider you plan to visit is included in your network. Your insurance company will also be able to inform you of any co-payments, co–insurances, or deductibles that will be your responsibility. If you proceed in scheduling an appointment and your health insurance benefits do not participate with Duke, your out of pocket liability may be higher. We will contact you regarding your coverage and patient liability. If you are uninsured, learn more about our financial assistance policy.

Aetna
- Aetna Choice POS, Aetna Choice POS II
- Aetna Medicare Assure Plan (HMO D-SNP)
- Aetna/CVS Health
- Aetna Elect Choice HMO, Aetna Open Access Elect Choice
- Aetna Health Network Only, Aetna Health Network Option
- Aetna HMO
- Aetna Limited Benefit Insurance PPO
- Aetna Managed Choice POS
- Aetna Medicare Value Plan (HMO)
- Aetna Medicare Essential Plan (PPO)
- Aetna Medicare Eagle Plan (PPO)
- Aetna Open Access HMO, Open Access Aetna Select, Aetna Open Access Select, Aetna Open Access Managed Choice
- Aetna Open Choice PPO
- Aetna PCP Coordinated POS Plan
- Aetna Quality Point of Service (QPOS)
- Aetna Select HMO
- Aetna Traditional Choice
- Aetna Voluntary Indemnity Group Plan
- Aetna Whole Health – Duke WakeMed WKCC
Ambetter
- Ambetter of North Carolina
Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC
- Blue Advantage
- Blue Medicare (HMO, PPO)*
- Blue Options (123, PPO, HSA)
- Blue Select
- NC State Employees Health Plan
- *Duke HomeCare and Hospice does not participate in the plan.
CIGNA
- Cigna Behavioral Health (*Limited eligibility)
- Cigna Choice Plus
- Cigna Connect Individual Family Plan
- Cigna Open Access
- Cigna Open Access Plus
- *Please call Cigna Behavioral Heath to see if the provider is participating in your plan.
Duke Group Plans
- Duke Basic
- Duke Select
Experience Health
- Experience Health Medicare Advantage (HMO) Plan
First Health
Gateway Health Alliance
Halifax Physician-Hospital Organization
- Halifax Physician-Hospital Organization plans*
- *This plan is only accepted at Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, and Duke HomeCare & Hospice.
Healthgram

Humana
- Humana Choice (PPO)
- Humana Choice - Medicare Advantage (PPO)
- Humana ChoiceCare - Medicare Advantage (PPO)
- Humana Gold Choice - Medicare Advantage (PFFS)
- Humana Gold Plus - Medicare Advantage (HMO)
- Humana Medicare Advantage Group Plan - NC State Retirees
MedCost
Medicare
- First Medicare Direct
- Medicare Part A
- Medicare Part B
MultiPlan / Private Healthcare Systems
NC Medicaid
- WellCare of North Carolina
- UnitedHealthcare Community Plan
- NC Medicaid Direct
- Healthy Blue
- Carolina Complete Health
- AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina
OneNet PPO
Optima Health
- FAMIS*
- Optima Family Care (Medicaid HMO in VA)*
- Optima Individual & Family (On & Off Exchange Plans)
- Optima Plus (PPO)
- Optima Vantage (HMO)
- *Duke Primary Care, Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, and Duke Raleigh Hospital are not participating with this plan.
TRICARE
- TRICARE Prime
- TRICARE Prime Remote
- TRICARE Select
United Healthcare
- AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 2 (HMO-POS)
- AARP Medicare Complete (HMO, PPO)*
- AARP Medicare Complete Essential (HMO)*
- All Savers Alternate Funding
- All Savers Fully Insured
- United Healthcare (HMO, PPO, POS)
- United Healthcare Charter/Charter Balance/Charter Plus
- United Healthcare Choice/Choice Plus
- United Healthcare Core/Core Essential
- United Healthcare Navigate/Navigate Plus/Navigate Balanced
- United Healthcare Option PPO
- United Healthcare Passport Connect Choice/Choice Plus
- United Healthcare Passport Connect Options PPO
- United Healthcare Select/Select Plus
- United Healthcare Shared Services - Harvard Pilgrim/UHC Options PPO Network
- United Medical Resources (UMR)
- *Duke HomeCare and Hospice and mental health providers do not participate with the plan.

External Relationships

Duke requires faculty members to report certain relationships outside of their employment in order to ensure potential conflicts can be addressed. This faculty member has reported no outside activities that relate to their Duke responsibilities.