Research at Regions

Research Activities
Regions Hospital

At a time when the great majority of scientific effort has been shifted to work at the cellular, subcellular, and molecular levels, the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Regions is concentrating on advancing our theoretical and practical knowledge base for clinical critical care. This group currently consists of four clinician scientists (Drs. Marini, Nahum, Shapiro and Wright), two postdoctoral research fellows, and one technician. The overall purpose of this section is to conduct research into the pathophysiology and management of acute respiratory failure. The adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the prototypical problem of impaired oxygen exchange across the lung, is being probed in the human physiology laboratory, in the animal laboratory, by computer modeling and at the bedside. We are searching for patterns of ventilation and management that improve oxygenation and oxygen delivery while minimizing the injury to delicate pulmonary tissues normally caused by mechanical ventilatory support. In studies of acute airflow obstruction, our primary objective is to discover patterns of breathing that minimize chest overdistention (e.g. barotrauma) and the work of breathing. For both of these inter-related problems, the group is attempting to develop simple bedside measures of physiologic and clinical interest as well as to develop scientific guidelines for ventilatory management based on mathematical and biological models of respiratory system behavior in disease. From such information, it is hoped that we can develop guidelines for clinical management that will impact the care of a wide spectrum of patients with life-threatening illnesses.