Intravenous Lidocaine Does Not Improve Neurologic Outcomes after Cardiac Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

My research team focuses on 3 areas:

1) We are interested in the mechanisms of postoperative neurocognitive disorders such as delirium, and the relationship between these disorders and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). Towards these ends, we use a combination of methods including pre and postoperative CSF and blood sampling, functional neuroimaging, EEG recordings, rigorous biochemical assays, and cognitive testing and delirium screening. In the long run, this work has the potential to help us improve long term neurocognitive outcomes for the more than 20 million Americans over age 60 who undergo anesthesia and surgery each year.

2) We are interested in the idea that altered anesthetic-induced brain EEG waveforms can serve as indicators of specific types of preclinical/prodromal neurodegenerative disease pathology, specific cognitive domain deficits, and postoperative delirium risk. We are studying this topic in the ALADDIN study, a 250 patient prospective cohort study in older surgical patients at Duke. Many people have viewed anesthesia and surgery as a "stress test" for the aging brain; we hope that this work will help us learn how to develop a real-time EEG readout of this "perioperative stress test" for the aging brain, just as ECG analysis can provide a real-time readout of cardiac treadmill stress tests. 

3) We are interested in how the APOE4 allele damages brain circuitry throughout the adult lifespan, and how this contributes to increased risk of late onset Alzheimer's disease as well as worse outcomes following other acute brain disorders such as stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI). In particular, we are investigating the hypothesis that the APOE4 allele leads to increased CNS complement activation throughout adult life, which then contributes to increased synaptic phagocytosis and long term neurocognitive decline. We are also studying whether acutely modulating APOE signaling in older surgical patients with the APOE mimetic peptide CN-105 is sufficient to block postoperative CSF neuroinflammation and complement activation. 

Our work is transdisciplinary, and thus our team includes individuals with diverse scientific and clinical backgrounds, ranging from neuropsychology and neuroimaging to proteomics, flow cytometry and behavioral neuroscience in animal models. What unites us is the desire to better understand mechanisms of age-dependent brain dysfunction, both in the perioperative setting and in APOE4 carriers. 

Basic-Translational:
1. Systems biology approaches to modeling perioperative cardiovascular injury and adaptation.
2. Mechanisms of perioperative myocardial injury; functional genomics applied to perioperative myocardial injury.
3. Metabolic consequences of perioperative myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.
4. Animal models and comparative genomic approaches to study perioperative myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.
5. Functional genomics of vein graft disease.
6. Animal models of vein graft disease.
7. Genetic association studies in perioperative medicine.
8. Clinico-genomic risk prediction models for perioperative and long-term adverse cardiovascular outcomes following cardiac surgery.

Clinical:
9. Intraoperative quantification of tissue perfusion by contrast echocardiography.
10. Use of myocardial tissue deformation indices to characterize perioperative ventricular dysfunction/stunning
11. 3-D echocardiographic evaluation of the right ventricle

My research interests are in the area of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology. The main focus of my research is towards the understanding and prevention of acute kidney injury after cardiac and other major surgeries. Secondary interests include the study of analgesic strategies after cardiothoracic surgical procedures, performance of clinical trials, and perioperative transfusion and hemostasis.

Best known for his work in assessing and improving clinical outcomes and quality of life following cardiac surgery, Dr. Mark Newman is President of the Duke Private Diagnostic Clinic (The Duke Faculty Practice Organization) and the Merel H. Harmel Professor of Anesthesiology at Duke University Medical Center. In addition, Dr. Newman developed the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Research Group of the Duke Clinical Research Institute established at Duke in 2001 to further the study of strategies to improve the outcomes of patients undergoing surgery and anesthesia. Dr. Newman has received funding from the National Institute on Aging, the American Heart Association, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, and the International Anesthesia Research Society  to investigate the impact of perioperative outcomes (neurocognitive decline, stroke, myocardial infarction, renal injury) on quantity and quality of life following cardiac surgery and resulting in numerous seminal publications in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and Lancet. Dr. Newman is a popular lecturer and speaker, having appeared on NBC Nightly News and The Today Show and having spoken at more than 200 national and international meetings.  Dr. Newman recently stepped down as the Chairman of the Duke University Department after 13 years to assume the role of PDC President.  During Dr. Newman’s tenure the department grew exponentially doubling its clinical and academic funding, and developing many outstanding individuals that have gone on to leadership roles at Duke and other key academic institutions across the country.

Current research interests include:
1. The relationship between white matter patency, functional connectivity (fMRI) and neurocognitive function following cardiac surgery.
2. The relationship between global and regional cortical beta-amyloid deposition and postoperative cognitive decline.
3. The effect of lidocaine infusion upon neurocognitive function following cardiac surgery.
4. The association between genotype and outcome after cardiac surgery.
5. Atrial fibrillation following cardiopulmonary bypass.