The Abdominal Transplantation Anesthesiology Division provides the highest quality clinical care for patients undergoing liver transplant and other complex hepatobiliary surgery. This team is comprised of anesthesiologists who have completed advanced fellowship training in various subspecialties including liver transplant anesthesiology, critical care anesthesiology, cardiac anesthesiology, thoracic anesthesiology, regional anesthesiology, and medical informatics.
Clinical
The liver transplant anesthesiology team participates in over 80 transplants per year. Our team provides care for recipients as well as donors undergoing living donor liver transplantation. We also provide care for more than 100 patients undergoing complex hepatobiliary procedures involving specialized laparoscopic and robotic surgical techniques annually. The anesthesiologists on the liver transplant team are highly skilled in the use of advanced techniques including invasive monitoring, transesophageal echocardiography, veno-venous bypass, and ROTEM-based patient blood management. All team members have passed the basic perioperative transesophageal echocardiography exam or have undergone advanced TEE training. The division has worked with our surgical and ICU colleagues to establish multidisciplinary pathways for enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols, including implementation of fast-track protocols and use of advanced regional anesthetic techniques. Members of the division sit on the weekly multidisciplinary liver transplant patient selection committee and participate in coordination of complex cases.
Education
Resident rotation: We provide residents on senior rotations with clinical experience in the anesthetic management of patients undergoing liver transplant and complex hepatobiliary surgery. This clinical experience is supplemented by formal and informal didactics, hands-on instruction, and guided independent study. With the completion of this rotation, trainees should have demonstrated proficiency in caring for patients with complicated liver pathology in a skilled and compassionate manner. This includes preoperative evaluation, intraoperative management and postoperative care utilizing the most current medical knowledge pertinent to each case.
Fellowship: We also offer a one-year, non-ACGME-accredited fellowship in liver transplant anesthesiology, which may be structured in combination with other clinical or academic fellowship opportunities. The mission of the fellowship is to provide fellows with the clinical and educational structure to gain the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to become expert consultant liver transplant anesthesiologists and perioperative physicians. Upon completion of the training program, liver transplant anesthesiology fellows will be trained in all aspects of liver transplant and advanced hepatobiliary anesthesiology and will be able to provide superior clinical care independently. The fellowship will teach transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and prepare fellows for the Basic Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography examination. As liver transplantation is mostly centered in academic medical center settings, the fellowship also aims to promote research and other academic activities that are vital components of a successful career in academic anesthesiology.
Research
Members of the division are engaged in research in many areas within transplant anesthesia, including translational work on predicting outcomes for liver transplants, and optimizing perioperative management in lung and liver transplantation.
Publications by the Department of Anesthesiology faculty
Faculty
Christine Lennon, M.D.
Chief, Abdominal Transplant Anesthesiology
Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology
