Research

For the advancement of cardiac medicine

Our highly trained and experienced employees are innovators in a broad research portfolio of cardiac anesthesiology and intensive care medicine, from basic research to large-scale clinical studies initiated by our team together with our international partners. Our research projects are funded by public third-party funding organizations (e.g. the German Research Foundation), but also through cooperative projects with industry. We are also happy to participate in national and international multicenter clinical studies in order to continuously improve the outcome of our patients.

The research conducted by the Clinic for Cardioanaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine focuses on clinically relevant issues with the overarching goal of minimizing perioperative complications and continuously improving the outcome and quality of life of patients after heart surgery. In detail, this means, for example, international collaborations and research projects in the field of the so-called Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) Cardiac Initiative.

• Study Tight K - Prevention of cardiac arrhythmias in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with the question: Can maintaining a highly normal serum potassium level reduce the development of atrial fibrillation in patients after cardiac surgery?
• The accurateCSX study: Improvement of postoperative outcome by high-dose vitamin C administration before and after cardiac surgery. Can perioperative administration of immune-active and high-dose vitamin C reduce the development of organ dysfunction?
• Happymed study - Influence of audiovisual distraction on pain reduction during transcatheter aortic valve implantation under local anaesthesia
• pHT study - Influence of immunological factors on the development and progression of secondary pulmonary hypertension in patients with mitral valve insufficiency or LVAD implantation
• Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a tool to increase patient safety during paediatric cardiac surgery
• Modify CSX study: Improvement of postoperative outcome through perioperative administration of fish oil
• Preoperative quantitative echocardiography for the prediction of right heart failure after implantation of left ventricular assist devices

Selected projects in collaboration with the Charité Institute of Physiology

The Department of Cardioanaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine has been working together with the Institute of Physiology at the Charité in the Organ Perfusion Research Network since 1996. As part of this cooperation, two endowed professorships set up by the DHZC work together with staff from the clinical areas of our clinic and the Institute of Physiology. The focus is on experimental research into clinical problems of vascular regulation and organ perfusion. A selection of the individual projects:

• Cellular mechanisms and therapeutic interventions in pulmonary hypertension due to chronic left heart failure
• Alveolar fluid absorption and secretion as central mechanisms of pulmonary oedema
• Expression and function of cardiac opioid receptors
• Cellular and molecular mechanisms of transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) and new intervention concepts derived from this
• Development of new therapeutic concepts and development and testing of new monitoring procedures
• Adaptation of microcirculation to simulated weightlessness

We welcome enquiries from potential employees, industry and students who are interested in research training, study cooperation or doctoral programmes.

Contact:
cai-studien@dhzc-charite.de

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