Professor Dr Hugo Karel van Aken
- Section Surgery, Orthopaedics, Anaesthesiology
- Location Münster, Germany
- Election year 2009
Research
Hugo Van Aken, full professor of anesthesiology and intensive-care medicine in Münster, has distinguished himself through numerous outstanding publications on experimental and clinical topics in his specialist field, with a major emphasis on the topic of epidural anesthesia.
In this procedure, local anesthetic agents are injected into the vicinity of nerve roots in the spinal cord. This eliminates pain sensation below the clavicle, so that surgery can be carried out in the chest, abdomen, and lower extremities. The technique is continued after the operation. It is the most effective method of treating postoperative pain.
Hugo Van Aken showed that thoracic epidural anesthesia blocks the body’s stress response to surgery. Undesirable increases in demand on organ functions are thereby alleviated and the immune system is strengthened. Epidural anesthesia thus reduces the likelihood of postoperative complications and promotes recovery. Life-threatening cardiac circulatory disturbances and myocardial infarction occur less often. Due to optimized perfusion of the abdominal viscera, recovery after procedures in the gastrointestinal tract is significantly better. A combination of general anesthesia and epidural anesthesia even improves long-term success in tumor surgery and can reduce the recurrence rate after cancer operations. The reasons for this are currently being investigated in experimental animal models.
Overall, the research has made a substantial contribution to the establishment of thoracic epidural anesthesia, in combination with general anesthesia, as the standard procedure for large operations in the chest and abdomen.
In this procedure, local anesthetic agents are injected into the vicinity of nerve roots in the spinal cord. This eliminates pain sensation below the clavicle, so that surgery can be carried out in the chest, abdomen, and lower extremities. The technique is continued after the operation. It is the most effective method of treating postoperative pain.
Hugo Van Aken showed that thoracic epidural anesthesia blocks the body’s stress response to surgery. Undesirable increases in demand on organ functions are thereby alleviated and the immune system is strengthened. Epidural anesthesia thus reduces the likelihood of postoperative complications and promotes recovery. Life-threatening cardiac circulatory disturbances and myocardial infarction occur less often. Due to optimized perfusion of the abdominal viscera, recovery after procedures in the gastrointestinal tract is significantly better. A combination of general anesthesia and epidural anesthesia even improves long-term success in tumor surgery and can reduce the recurrence rate after cancer operations. The reasons for this are currently being investigated in experimental animal models.
Overall, the research has made a substantial contribution to the establishment of thoracic epidural anesthesia, in combination with general anesthesia, as the standard procedure for large operations in the chest and abdomen.