Sonia Garg, M.D.

Heart Failure and Transplantation Specialist in Dallas

As a cardiologist specializing in heart failure, heart transplant, and mechanical circulatory support, Sonia Garg, M.D., cares for patients at every stage of heart disease. She works with a multi-disciplinary team to ensure that patients are receiving the most comprehensive care possible.

Dr. Garg has a special focus on heart disease caused by rarer conditions such as amyloid, sarcoid, or myocarditis – and peripartum cardiomyopathy, a type of heart failure that occurs during pregnancy or soon after delivery.

“Heart failure isn’t always related to blockages in the arteries, or coronary artery disease. Often it’s related to something else, and it’s our job as a team to investigate those alternative causes so we can better tailor how to treat each patient,” Dr. Garg says.

No two patients – even those with similar diagnoses – are the same, so Dr. Garg makes sure she takes the time to talk through a patient’s health history.  

“I always start from the beginning, even if the patient was diagnosed a long time ago. I ask ‘How and when did your symptoms begin; how have your symptoms progressed over time; and how is your disease impacting your daily activities?’ Sometimes these questions will take us back decades to try to understand where it all began,” she says.

A Team for Life

Dr. Garg recommends patients see her or one of her colleagues as soon after diagnosis as possible because early treatment can sometimes reverse or improve heart disease. She offers drug and device therapies and can also help patients who need a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) or even transplant.

If patients are at a stage where their disease is advanced enough to be irreversible and the limits of medical therapy have been reached, it’s her job, working in collaboration with other experts at UT Southwestern, to recognize when to go to the next step.

“We will see you through your journey to receiving an LVAD or transplant, and beyond,” she says. “You adopt us. We adopt you. We’re a team for life.”