Department of Anesthesiology

Following a Thanksgiving surge that led to record numbers of admissions of patients with COVID-19, residents and fellows from multiple disciplines have come together under the direction and supervision of critical care attendings to provide the best care to critically ill patients in Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.

COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care in the early months of the pandemic were subject to a significantly higher burden of delirium and coma than is typically found in patients with acute respiratory failure. Choice of sedative medications and curbs on family visitation played a role in increasing acute brain dysfunction for these patients.

For patients receiving total knee or total hip replacements at the Nashville VA Medical Center, the use of opioids for inpatient pain management and the total time patients spent in the hospital were both greatly reduced following the January 2016 adoption of sweeping quality improvement measures.

Vanderbilt researchers demonstrate that the polymer P188 has promise as a therapy to prevent reperfusion injury — the cellular damage that occurs when blood flow returns after an ischemic event like a heart attack.

Liver transplants have traditionally required a high volume of transfusions of blood products, which comes with several downsides. The products are costly to patients — as high as $15,000 on top of the expense of a transplant. And they are sometimes not well accepted in patients because they degrade over time and are derived from multiple patients.

Histamine — commonly associated with allergies — also has a signaling role in the brain’s reward center and may offer a novel target for treating addiction.

The Discovery Lecture Series launches this fall with a webinar format, the first featuring George Koob, PhD, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.