Cardiopulmonary Physiology, Monitoring, and Outcomes in Critical Care
My research is centred on the interaction between native cardiopulmonary physiology and mechanical organ support in the critically ill. A first focus is the effect of venovenous and venoarterial ECMO, Impella, and invasive and non-invasive ventilation on cardiac output, pulmonary blood flow, ventricular interdependence, and right-ventricular–pulmonary-arterial coupling. This work combines large-animal experiments with conductance-catheter pressure–volume loop analysis, in-silico modelling, and clinical validation, and is supported by a patent on gas-exchange–based cardiac output estimation during extracorporeal support (PCT/EP2020/060428).
A second focus is the development and validation of non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring as an alternative to invasive catheters. Current projects address pulmonary artery pressure estimation by Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT), venous congestion assessment using the Venous Excess Ultrasound (VExUS) score under varying respiratory loads and volume states, and continuous bilateral carotid hemodynamic monitoring by wave intensity analysis.
A third line of work, in close collaboration with the ESICM FREM Section and the University of Tartu, addresses gastrointestinal dysfunction and nutrition in the ICU, including the COSMOGI core outcome set, the international AMI Delphi consensus on acute mesenteric ischaemia, and interventional trials on the timing and composition of nutrition (FAST-ICU, GUT-TIMING).
Finally, as President of the SGI-SSMI Datensatzkommission (KDS), I lead the further development of the Swiss Minimal Dataset (MDSi) and a national ICU benchmarking infrastructure. Related work uses both the national MDSi registry and the local Clinical Data Warehouse at USB to study mortality prediction (SWISS-MPM), resource use, electrolyte and glucose disturbances, and trauma care pathways, with the goal of turning routinely collected ICU data into rigorous evidence for quality improvement and clinical decision-making.
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