Illinois Medicine

saves of patients from local anesthetic or drug overdoses have come from around the world. "Further research is needed to continue improving our understanding and optimization of lipid rescue," says Weinberg. "For example, lipid emulsion is also effective at preventing damage to the heart that follows resuscita- tion. It is possible that there is a role for lipid rescue in treating patients after resuscitation from sudden cardiac death, a very common event occurring roughly 1,000 times each day in the U.S." Additionally, Steven Roth, MD, FARVO, the recently named Michael Reese Endowed Professor of Anesthesiology, focuses on translational research that has the potential to prevent or treat perioperative eye injuries. Those occur during the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative phases of surgery, as well as in other conditions that cause blindness or visual loss, such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Roth's NIH-funded research during the last two decades has resulted in the publication of some of the largest peri- operative reviews, which identified patient risk factors in eye surgery as well as other interventions like cardiac and spine surgery. Now, in collaboration with Maciej Lesniak, MD, chairman of neurosurgery at Northwestern Medicine, Roth is studying whether stem cells could be used for treating retinal injuries. "Using the secretions from stem cells and stem cells 'revved up' by exposure to low oxygen tension, we found that we can effectively reverse the damage from reti- nal ischemia-reperfusion (IR) after it occurs in rodents," says Roth. IR is the final common pathway where blindness occurs in diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular occlusion, and age-related macular degeneration. "More recently, we found that tiny nanoparticles secreted by stem cells, known as extracellular vesicles (EVs), can also completely reverse the damage," says Roth. "We are now developing the means to target these EVs to achieve specific cell-directed therapy for retinal IR and glaucoma." In addition to life-altering translational research, anesthesiology has been working to improve the preoperative paradigm for surgical patients. For more than 150 years, patients have been advised to keep NPO (have nothing by mouth) for 10 to 12 hours prior to surgery in order to prevent aspiration. Two decades ago, surgeons began to review the practice and developed evidence-based guidelines to improve surgi- cal recovery known as enhanced recovery practices (ERP). Today, led by Randal Dull, MD, PhD, UI Health is at the forefront of the charge to "Say No to NPO." Under the new guidelines of ERP, patients are not only allowed, but encouraged, to drink 24 ounces of a clear carbohydrate beverage, such as a sports drink, up to two hours before the planned surgery. Dull coined the term "Pre-Anesthesia Intake Instructions," or PII, to replace NPO and has led the effort to educate UI Health medical staff about the change. With the new PII, patients who drink a clear carbohydrate bever- age report feeling better the day of their surgery since they are not so hungry or thirsty. "Many academic centers have begun to develop ERP, but UIC has been ahead of the curve in the widespread implementation of a full-scale ERP," says Dull. Otolaryngology: Contemporary patient care and clinical training FOR MORE THAN 150 YEARS, the College of Medicine's otolaryngol- ogy department has been the home of groundbreaking innovation in M I R I A M R E D L E A F , M D O T O L A R Y N G O L O G Y I L L I N O I S M E D I C I N E | 21 J . R E G A N T H O M A S , M D

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