Dec. 10 – Alessio Rungatscher, a surgeon and researcher in the Department of Surgery, Cardiac Surgery Division of the University of Verona, was awarded the “Young Investigator Award” during the “Scientific Sessions” promoted by the American Heart Association (AHA). Rungatscher was rewarded for having developed a system to avoid potential neurological problems in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or neurosurgery. The new method, which finds its roots in pharmacological products, makes it possible to decrease the temperature of the organism in a natural manner, and then to slow down the patient’s metabolism; the system is very similar to the one that allows animals to go into hibernation. The experiment allows the implementation of new forms of protection for specific organs, and the replication of what happens during hibernation. Today the decrease of body temperature takes place with the use of physical systems such as a cooling surface or extracorporeal circulation. The experimental phase of the research has already been validated and has been presented in Los Angeles. The next step is its validation and clinical application in humans. The results presented by the Laboratory of Experimental Cardiovascular Research Team have been circulating for three years in AHA’s “Scientific Sessions” and have won twice excellence awards, such as the “Young Investigator Award” in 2012 and the “Best of the Best” Award of 2011. In addition, Faggian and Rungatscher were invited to teach a course in experimental microsurgery for researchers and students at Stanford University, to study pulmonary hypertension. The course is very similar to that of experimental microsurgery held at the University of Verona for medical students at the end of their studies.
