UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care Receives $4.8 Million Grant to Improve Postoperative Health

San Francisco, CA – The Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is proud to announce the receipt of a significant 5-year, $4.8 million research grant from the National Institute of Aging. This grant will fund groundbreaking research aimed at understanding and potentially mitigating the most common postoperative complication among elderly patients: Perioperative Neurocognitive Disorder (PND).

PND often manifests as a significant decline in cognitive function following surgery, which can severely affect the quality of life and independence of older adults. This research project, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Mervyn Maze in collaboration with Dr. Niccolo Terrando from Duke University, seeks to uncover the biological mechanisms that make elderly individuals or those already experiencing cognitive decline more susceptible to this disorder.

Dr. Maze, a longstanding expert in this field, and his colleague Dr. Terrando, have been investigating the causes of postoperative cognitive decline for nearly two decades. Their prior work has shown that neuroinflammation—essentially, inflammation of nerve tissue—triggered by surgery might be a critical factor. The new grant will enable further exploration into how this inflammation develops and its connection to cognitive decline through studies conducted at both UCSF and Duke University.

One promising aspect of the research involves the potential repurposing of a drug currently being tested for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), known as olamkicept. This drug works by inhibiting a specific pathway believed to be involved in postoperative cognitive decline. Early studies suggest that olamkicept is effective and safe in controlling IBD, raising hopes that it could also protect against PND in vulnerable surgical patients.

The research team, including Drs. Hua Su, Arun Prakash, and Zhonghui Guan from the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, and Dr. Ralph Marcucio from the Department of Orthopedics, is poised to assess the efficacy and safety of this drug further and ensure it does not interfere with the body’s healing processes post-surgery.

“Our goal is to translate these findings into clinical trials and ultimately into effective treatments,” said Dr. Maze. “This could significantly improve the postoperative health outcomes of our aging population, reducing both the personal and economic burdens of surgery-related cognitive complications, which currently escalate healthcare costs in the US by nearly $40 billion annually.”

This project also benefits from ongoing feasibility studies led by Dr. Odmara Barreto Chang, which support the robust recruitment of surgical patients for future clinical trials.

For more information about this research or to learn more about the UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, please contact [email protected].