Anesthesiology Research

Dr. Meier-Haran’s overarching research goal is to develop new techniques for anesthesia management during innovative surgical procedures and for perioperative pain management, and evaluate their efficacy and safety.  She is interested in minimally invasive neurosurgical endoscopic surgery and have taken the lead in developing an anesthesia protocol for endoscopic strip craniectomy for simple craniosynostosis in early infancy. Two research protocols investigate predictors associated with outcome parameters: (1) blood transfusion, (2) transfer to ICU, (3) reoperation and (4) incidence and severity of venous air embolism. Our preliminary work suggests lower morbidity, mortality, hospitalization costs and shorter hospital stays compared to open reconstruction procedures. We just closed a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial in collaboration with the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston and in cooperation with a small team of neurosurgical anesthesiologists, neurosurgery and plastic surgery that investigated the PK profile of the antifibrinolytic agent TXA. Data analysis showed its efficacy in reducing blood loss and blood transfusion in infants undergoing the traditional open craniosynostosis reconstruction surgery.  In a retrospective study we are in the process to determine the risk factors for (1) intraoperative complications and (2) prolonged ICU stay in those open reconstruction procedures.

Extending this interest in anesthesia for minimally invasive surgery procedures to other specialties, she has begun working with the urologist Dr. Hiep Nguyen in the Robotic Training and Research Center at CHB. They are prospectively evaluating the novel application of intraperitoneal aerosolized local anesthetic for efficacy and safety of its pharmacokinetic profile in order to provide better analgesia, shorter hospital stays and facilitate ambulatory surgery in children with urologic laparoscopic surgery. In another prospective study they determine effectiveness of urinary substance P measurement as a predictor of bladder spasm after bladder surgery. Substance P may serve as a useful biomarker of bladder hyperreactivity and could prove to be a useful measure when evaluating new treatments for postoperative bladder spasms.