Cardiac - Adult

• Octavio A. Falcucci, MD
  Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
• Jens Fassl, MD
  Visiting International Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
• David M. Fehr, MD
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
• Kane M. High, MD
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
  Director, Cardiac and Vascular Anesthesia Division
  Co-Director, Division of Critical Care Medicine
• Michael S. Ingerski, MD
• Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
• Ramesh Kodavatiganti, MD
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
  Director, Practice Management and Compliance
• Berend Mets, MB, ChB, PhD, FRCA, FFASA
  Eric A. Walker Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology
• Srikantha Rao, MB, BS
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
  Director, Vascular Anesthesia

Cardiac - Pediatric

• David M. Fehr, MD
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
• Ramesh Kodavatiganti, MD
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
  Director, Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowship
  Director, Practice Management and Compliance
• Patrick M. McQuillan, MD
  Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics
  Vice Chair for Patient Care
  Director, ASA Service
  Director, Acute Pain Management
• Kenneth J. Saliba, DO
  Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics
  Assistant Director, Residency Program for CA 2
  

Vascular

• David M. Fehr, MD
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
• Kane M. High, MD
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
  Director, Cardiac and Vascular Anesthesia Division
  Co-Director, Division of Critical Care Medicine
• Piotr K. Janicki, MD, PhD
  Professor of Anesthesiology
  Vice Chair for Research
  Director, Solid Organ Transplantation
  Director, Clinical Research
• Leonard Pott, MB, BCh
  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
  Director of Airway Management
• Srikantha L. Rao, MB, BS, MS
  Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
• John K. Stene, Jr., MD, PhD
  Professor of Anesthesiology and Neurosurgery
  Director, Perioperative Anesthesia Trauma Services
  Director, Adult ASA & Endoscopy
  Co-Director, Division of Critical Care Medicine

All anesthesiologists are trained to care for patients with heart disease. In addition to this training, cardiac anesthesiologists have specialized training in the equipment and devices used to monitor heart function during complex surgeries.

What is a vascular anesthesiologist?

A vascular anesthesiologist provides anesthesia for patients undergoing surgery on blood vessels such as the carotid arteries, aorta, or the arteries or veins of the leg. A vascular anesthesiologist is considered an expert in the use of medications to raise and lower blood pressure and also for the insertion of monitoring catheters.

Why is this important?

Patients undergoing vascular surgery often also have problems with their heart or arteries (arteriosclerosis) or blood sugar (diabetes). Expert knowledge of these problems is critical to the patients' care during surgery.

Why do patients often receive an epidural for vascular surgery?

Epidurals are very helpful for relieving pain after any abdominal or leg surgery while not making the patient sleepy. Also, after surgery that is intended to improve blood flow to the legs, there is evidence that epidurals make the blood flow even better.

What is an epidural?

An epidural is a tiny catheter that is inserted between vertebrae in you back to provide a continuous flow of pain medicine during and after surgery.

What are the risks of an epidural?

Complications are very rare but include a “wet tap” in which the needle through which the catheter is inserted goes all the way into the spinal canal. This can cause a leak of spinal fluid which can cause a headache. Also, damage to a nerve or bleeding can happen which can put pressure on your spinal canal, but fortunately these problems are very, very unusual.