Department Of Anesthesiology

A Vanderbilt study found that higher levels of excess oxygen given to patients under general anesthesia add risk of injury to the kidneys, lungs and heart. Read More

A team at Case Western Reserve University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center has determined with atomic-level precision how two established drugs bind to and alter the conformation of a cell membrane transporter protein called NKCC1, shutting down its activity. Read More

A multicenter study of ICU patients found that in the hospital, delirium was associated with a nearly three-fold increase in risk of death the following day, but after discharge there was no association between delirium and mortality. Read More

The sedative dexmedetomidine, when administered during or after heart surgery, is associated with postoperative delirium and adverse outcomes. Read More

Cancer chemotherapy lowered risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurocognitive disorders that disproportionately affect older people. Read More

Sedative medications used in intensive care are associated with increased delirium, which is in turn connected with higher medical costs and greater risk of death and ICU-related dementia. Read More

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. Read More

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. Read More

Surgical patients are being given more opioids than they need for postsurgical pain management, raising the risk of addiction. Read More

A disease-associated mutation in a transporter protein impairs gut barrier function, leading to gastrointestinal disease and chronic infections. Read More

New findings suggest that treatments that decrease oxidative damage might help with postoperative delirium that occurs in up to 30% of cardiac surgery patients. Read More

A disease-associated mutation in a transporter protein causes cells to increase energy production, as if they are starving, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered. Read More

Structural details of a protein that is essential to normal brain function could improve treatments for epilepsy and other seizure disorders. Read More

The Department of Anesthesiology is reconfiguring its leadership structure, partly in response to the recent appointment of department chair Warren Sandberg, MD, PhD, as VUAH Co-Chief of Staff for Perioperative and Critical Care Services. Mark Rice, MD, has been appointed Executive Vice Chair and Amy Robertson, MD, has been appointed Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs. Read More

David Chestnut, MD, received the Society for Obstetric Anesthesiology and Perinatology’s Distinguished Service Award during the group’s annual meeting in May. Read More

A drug in use clinically to help make vaccines more effective may be a powerful new tool for fighting antibiotic-resistant infections. Read More

Using techniques to control and monitor the activities of individual neurons, Vanderbilt investigators are probing the brain’s reward circuitry. Read More

Year-over-year growth in inpatient volumes across Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s adult clinical enterprise, three new floors of additional adult inpatient beds through the renovation of Medical Center East, along with the steady expansion of adult clinics throughout the region are among factors leading to the creation of the new roles of co-chiefs of staff for Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital (VUAH) and Clinics. Read More

Drug repurposing involves establishing an additional approved indication for a drug already at market. Read More

Brent Dunworth, DNP, MBA, CRNA, director of advanced practice and division chief of Nurse Anesthesia in Vanderbilt’s Department of Anesthesia, has been appointed to the clinical advisory committee of the Respiratory Compromise Institute (RCI). Read More