AC03 – Critical Patient

Objectives

Our research group in the Critical Patient, recently created as such, develops several lines of work:

• Sepsis research: identification of both clinical and genetic risk factors for the development of complications and mortality associated with this disease, a highly prevalent syndrome in critical care units.
• Identification and characterization of the cellular effects of anesthetics and drugs used in critical patients: cytoprotective mechanisms, inflammatory mediators and oxidative stress.
• Identification of prognostic factors, therapeutic targets and characterization of sepsis-associated encephalopathy, the most common encephalopathy in critical care units and currently lacking specific treatment.
• Locoregional anesthesia with nerve block: description and optimization of procedures.
  Study of the molecular mechanisms associated with the euthyroid patient syndrome.
• Prevention procedures and perioperative management of the difficult airway.
• Study and acute and chronic management of neuropathic pain.

To carry out this research, we currently have patient samples for genetic analysis and study of biomarkers and experimental models of sepsis. Once we advance in the knowledge of mechanisms involved in the processes under study and we have identified potential therapeutic targets, we intend to develop lines of research that allow us to explore the therapeutic potential of drugs with a view to improving the treatment of these pathologies.