Co-Heads
Kisilevsky, Dr. Alexandra
Rieley, Dr. William A
Members
Bennitz, Dr. Josh
Dhaliwal, Dr. Bali
Henderson, Dr. Cyndi
Huttunen, Dr. Henrik
Martin, Dr. Lynn
Mayson, Dr. Kelly
McEwen, Dr. Jon
Peng, Dr. Yvonne
Wilson, Dr. Jason
Shao, Dr. Evan
Neurosurgical Anesthesia
The Division of Neuroanesthesia oversees the specialized clinical services, education and research related to anesthetic care of patient undergoing neurosurgical and spine procedures, as well as patients with neurologic injury. Members of the Division of Neuroanesthesia are anesthesiologists with prior fellowship training or expertise in anesthesia for neurosurgical procedures and the care of patients at risk for perioperative brain injury undergoing non-neurologic surgery. In addition, Dr. Griesdale provides additional expertise as an anesthesiologist and intensive care physician with a clinical and research expertise in neurocritical care.
CLINICAL SERVICES
The Division of Neuroanesthesia provides highly specialized anesthetic care to adult patients undergoing neurosurgical, spine and neurointerventional radiology procedures at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH). VGH is the quaternary referral centre for the province of British Columbia, a catchment of approximately 5 million people. Complex neurosurgery and spine procedures are done at VGH, including brain tumour resection, skull base surgery, neurovascular surgery, endovascular thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke, functional neurosurgery including the deep brain stimulation, spinal deformity correction, spinal oncology, spinal cord injury and neurointerventional radiology. VGH treats over 1800 neurosurgical inpatients per year, including approximately 400 craniotomies annually. In addition, VGH is the level one trauma center serving the Vancouver area and the major referral center for acute neurosurgical emergencies and neurocritical care.
EDUCATION
The Division of Neuroanesthesia oversees the subspecialty neuroanesthesia education of anesthesiology residents at the University of British Columbia, including the clinical rotation at Vancouver General Hospital, didactic teaching, and journal clubs. In addition, the Division organizes city-wide journal clubs for UBC faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics. The Division participates in a variety of other teaching opportunities, including Departmental Grand Rounds, and Joint Rounds with the Division of Neurosurgery.
Vancouver General Hospital offers a 12-month fellowship program in adult neuroanesthesiology. This fellowship provides excellent clinical exposure to the full spectrum of complex neurosurgical cases as well as research and scholarly experience. More information can be found here.
RESEARCH
The Division of Neuroanesthesia has an active research program in collaboration with our colleagues in neurosurgery, spine surgery, neurology, psychiatry and critical care. Areas of focus include clinical outcomes after neurosurgical and spine procedures, frailty and complications in patients undergoing complex spine surgery, perioperative stroke, electroconvulsive therapy, management of hypoxemic ischemic brain injury following cardiac arrest and traumatic brain injury.
A list of recent publications can be found here.