Dr. Umeshkumar Athiraman, M.B.B.S., M.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine and a neuroanesthesiologist in the General Anesthesiology Division, has received three research grants to study the role of nitric oxide synthase in isoflurane conditioning for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)-induced delayed cerebral ischemia and the role of isoflurane conditioning on cognitive function following SAH. Two of the grants were awarded by the Brain Aneurysm Foundation and one by the McDonnell Center for Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology.
Morbidity and mortality after aneurysmal SAH remain unacceptably high. Many strategies have been explored to prevent the consequences of ruptured SAH and none have proven efficacious. The major goal of Dr. Athiraman’s work is to determine the efficacy and sustainability of isoflurane conditioning-induced neurovascular protection in aneurysmal SAH and to determine whether eNOS (endothelial nitric oxide synthase) and/or iNOS (inducible nitric oxide synthase) are the key mediators of this protection.