Saving the Heart, Protecting the Brain
Description
Open heart surgery can save your life — but it can quietly put your brain and kidneys at risk.
Many patients wake up from surgery confused or forgetful, with inflammation in the brain now known to be a likely cause of delirium.
Dr Simon Iles knows this firsthand. As a young ICU doctor, he collapsed at work and suddenly became the patient — surviving emergency heart surgery but waking up unable to remember his own mother’s phone number.
Now, Professor Yugeesh Lankadeva and his team at The Florey are developing a potential disease-modifying therapy — using a carefully formulated compound related to vitamin C — to protect the brain and kidneys before damage begins.
It’s hope for thousands of patients to not just survive heart surgery, but keep living with their minds and bodies intact.
United States
