Clinical Sections

Perioperative and Adult Anesthesia

Transplant Anesthesia

Organ transplantation in the main operating rooms at Yale-New Haven Hospital currently consists of renal, cardiac and pancreatic allografting. Of these, renal cadaveric and living donor transplants are by far the most common. Hepatic transplantation is in a temporary period of abeyance while the Departments of Surgery and Anesthesiology replace and reinforce specialty staffing. Residents in the Department of Anesthesiology participate in perioperative transplant patient management in nearly all rotations, including Perioperative and Adult Anesthesia, Cardiac, Pediatric, One Day (Ambulatory), Acute Pain, Intensive Care and our preoperative screening clinic. With the increase in recipient numbers and their greatly increased life expectancy in recent years, it is not uncommon to see heart, liver, kidney, and pancreas recipients return to the operating room for non-transplant related procedures. These opportunities further increase resident exposure to this complicated and fascinating patient population.

Preoperative work-up and intraoperative management of patients with end-stage organ disease are certainly among the most difficult and challenging areas in anesthesia. Understanding the myriad alterations in physiology and function, both locally and systemically, is critical to providing safe and successful perioperative management. Co-morbid disease is common and frequently severe in patients with heart, lung, liver, kidney or pancreatic disease. This further increases the challenge and the learning potential afforded to each resident as she/he rotates through our division.

Research opportunities in transplant anesthesia abound at the resident, fellow and attending levels in both the basic and clinical arenas. Investigation can take place either within our division or in collaboration with the section of transplant surgery. Opportunities also exist to collaborate with other divisions and sections within the Department of Anesthesiology.