Thoracic Anesthesiology

In the basic science arena, our team, in close collaboration with leading research scientists, is studying the mechanism of ventilator-acquired lung injury in the setting of severe lung pathology. Using innovative small-animal models, we are studying the mechanisms by which mechanical ventilation injures animals with pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. The goal is to translate these findings into potential lung-protective interventions that can be evaluated for effectiveness to help patients with these devastating diseases.

In the clinical arena, our team of clinician scientists has pushed the boundaries of understanding the relationship between lung mechanics, disease pathology, and patient anatomy. The quest to implement precision medicine in mechanical ventilation has led us to new discoveries. Utilizing novel technologies, we can define the true relationship between a patient’s predicted body weight and actual lung volumes. Our findings have challenged age-old dogmatic formulas for selecting tidal volumes on purely weight-based variables. We have presented new hypotheses for determining lung-protective precision ventilator settings, and our work has been published in Anesthesia & Analgesia. In the future, we hope to expand on these new discoveries with larger, multi-center clinical trials that will evaluate novel lung-protective ventilation strategies for patients with significant lung disease.