Cardiothoracic Surgery
Cardiothoracic surgeons must be willing to go through 4 years of medical school and 7 to 8 years of hospital work, before they are ready to rake in average salaries of about $400,000 to $525,000. High salaries can be up to $1,000,000. Unfortunately Cardiothoracic Surgeons have had a drop in salary due to Cardiac Stents (Stents are used to keep coronary arteries open and are placed by Interventional Cardiologists). Stents offered a less-invasive option rather then the deeply more feared Invasive Heart Bypass Surgery, which is performed by a Cardiothoracic Surgeon. This caused Cardiothoracic Surgeons to have a lower average salary of $1.02 million in 1990 to $425,000 in 2006. This also effected Interventional Cardiologists by giving them a higher salary of $392,000 in 1990 to $550,000 in 2006. However, evidence has shown that Stents may cause clotting, so Bypass Surgery may be a better option for future patients, and therefore the salaries may yet rise again for the Cardiothoracic Surgeon.
