Resuscitation- Basic and Clinical

Investigators

Soufian Almahameed, MD
Thomas Collins, MD
Kenneth R. Laurita, PhD
Joseph S. Piktel, MD
Lance D. Wilson, MD
Ohad Ziv, MD

We have an active research program in cardiac resuscitation, featuring both basic and translational efforts, as well as clinical studies in resuscitation science.  Our work in resuscitation is closely tied to our long-term collaboration with the Heart and Vascular Research Center at MetroHealth, as well as our collaboration with Cleveland Emergency Medical Services. We also have active collaborations with Neuroscience at CWRU, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech, amongst others.  Current funding is through NIH-NHLBI and DOD and we have had past support from the NIH-NHLBI, Emergency Medicine Foundation, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, the Zoll Foundation, the CWRU CTSC, and the MetroHealth Foundation, amongst others. Our lab has a longstanding interest  in basic mechanisms of arrhythmias relevant to emergency care in a number of disease models, including heart failure, drug-induced proarrhythmia, hypothermia, and ischemia/reperfusion, representing a longstanding collaboration between basic cardiology and emergency medicine. Currently we are focusing on novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to cardiac and cerebral resuscitation in translational and clinical studies. 

Specific Research Projects: 

Novel mechanisms and treatment of arrhythmia during resuscitation
This work examines manipulation of gap junction coupling and normalization of calcium cycling as therapeutic strategies to suppress/treat arrhythmias and recurrent rearrest to improve resuscitation outcomes after sudden cardiac arrest. Our efforts include developing a novel ECG biomarker for impending cardiac arrest, involving clinical studies to develop and validate this biomarker as a trigger to initiate therapies to prevent and treat arrhythmias resulting in cardiac arrest.  

Preservation of Gap Junction Coupling to Promote Neurologically Intact Survival from Sudden Cardiac Arrest
These studies focus on manipulation of cerebral gap junction function as a neuroprotective strategy in cardiac arrest. In these basic and translational studies, we utilize complementary models of cardiac arrest to develop potential novel therapeutic approaches to mitigate brain injury to improve resuscitation outcomes.  

Use of Electronic Health Records to Identify Cardiac Disease Substrates During Resuscitation from Cardiac Arrest
The purpose of our study is to prospectively determine the utility of the electronic health record to identify a patient’s prior cardiac history during resuscitation from out of hospital cardiac arrest in order to provide tailored ACLS therapy. 

The Effect of Targeted Temperature Management on Neurologically Intact Survival in Cardiac Arrest Patients with Overdose
As the effect of therapeutic hypothermia and targeted temperature management on outcomes of patients after resuscitation from cardiac arrest due to overdose is unclear, we are examining the effect of temperature modulation on neurologically intact survival in these patients.