Perioperative care

The department of Anesthesiology has active research groups that focus on studies on the improvement of perioperative outcome, acute and chronic pain, opioid epidemiology, ventilatory control and pharmacology of opioids and anesthetics, including psychedelics (ketamine) and muscle relaxants.

The research theme “perioperative care” aims to study the effect of applied anesthesia care on patient outcome. Various indicators (endpoints) are being investigated such as hemodynamic stability, quality of the surgical field (as assessed by the surgeon), postoperative (acute and chronic) pain, postoperative development of pulmonary complications, readmission, and blood replacement therapy. The research is conducted in close collaboration with the surgeon of different specialties. Apart from clinical trials being performed in the operating room complex, big data analyses are an integral part of this research line. Aimed at the improvement of perioperative care various projects are on-going, including (i) the renewal of pain protocols for the treatment of postoperative pain (based on the results of big data analyses); (ii) application of the novel technique of deep neuromuscular block, a technique that that gained world-wide adoption; (iii) the implementation of a pain or nociception monitor to steer opiate administration during general anesthesia. This latest development makes it possible to apply parameter-guided anesthesia, which will reduce hemodynamic instability, the probability of awareness and chronic postoperative pain. LUMC is currently an excellence centre for perioperative nociceptive monitoring.