Research

BRINGING RESEARCH TO LIFE

The Department of Surgery conducts a broad range of both basic and clinical research aimed at bringing medical problems found in patient care to the research lab and returning research advances to patient care.

Among current research projects are studies addressing how surgery and trauma affect the body's ability to compensate for such stress; how to improve the body's response to open heart surgery; and the effectiveness of new therapies for lung cancer.

The research conducted by the Department's faculty is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in addition to other public sources—and also private sources—of funds for biomedical research. Our faculty collaborate with Stony Brook's General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) in multidisciplinary efforts to speed basic research into better patient care; unique on Long Island and one of only 74 centers nationwide supported by the NIH, the GCRC was federally funded in 1998, and facilitates patient-focused "translational" research.

As the regional center for numerous clinical trials in cancer, Stony Brook uses the latest in therapeutic advances for the care of different cancers—and this gives our patients the only opportunity available in Suffolk County to benefit from such studies. Indeed, innovative use of technology has put Stony Brook at the forefront of cancer research and treatments, and the Department of Surgery contributes to this distinction in both basic and clinical sciences.

The following list of selected research projects now underway in the Department makes clear our commitment to excellence in research (see comprehensive list of current research activity) — and to advancing patient care with it:

n EGR-1 and arteriogenesis: a primary mechanism of collateral vessel development
n Staphylococcus aureus vaccine (V710) in adult patients scheduled for open heart surgery
n Platelet function screening (aggregometry) for patients having received clopidegrel and undergoing coronary bypass surgery
n Median sternotomy versus mini-thoracotomy in systemic inflammatory responses to open heart surgery
n Heparin-platelet factor 4 antibodies and the development of postoperative complications
n Comparison of colonoscopic cecal injection of colon cancer cells versus rat colon cancer stem cells for development of metastatses
n Alcohol as an apoptotic trigger in head and neck carcinogenesis
n Tracheostomy practices in pediatric trauma patients
n Safety and activity of Celaderm TM treatment regimens in healing venous leg ulcers
n Claudication: exercise versus endoluminal revascularization (CLEVER)
n Safety and efficacy of NeuroFlo technology in ichemic stroke
n Topical GAM501 (Ad5PDGF-B/bovine type I collagen gel) in the treatment of non-healing diabetic ulcers of the lower extremities
n Topical recombinant thrombin (rThrombin) in surgical hemostasis
n Peripheral use of angiojet rheolytic thrombectomy with mid-length catheters
n Comparison of primary patency between Gore Propaten vascular graft and disadvantaged autologous vein graft for below-knee arterial bypass
n Safety and efficacy of chromium as a therapeutic intervention for insulin resistance associated with obesity
n Linezolid in the treatment of subjects with nosocomial pneumonia proven to be due to methicillin-resistant staphylococcus
n IV anidulafungin followed by oral azole therapy for the treatment of candidemia and and invasive candidiasis
n Use of inhalational Amikacin for ventilator-associated pneumonia
n One-year follow-up of patients receiving the geoform annuloplasty ring for functional mitral
n Radiofrequency ablatoin in high-risk patients with stage 1A non-small lung carcinoma
n Synergy between PCI with Taxus and cardiac surgery (SYNTAX)
n Impact of melanoma treatment on physical and psychosocial function
n Sentinel lymphadenectomy and complete lymph node dissection versus sentinel lymphadenectomy alone in patients witrh cutaneous melanoma carcinoma who have epidermal growth factor receptor-positive tumors
n Natural history of lower extremity deep vein thrombosis in patients undergoing catheter-directed
n Nutritional regulation of albumin synthesis
n Cellular mechanisms in sarcopenia for the elderly
n Use of indocyanine green fluorescence near-infrared angiography for the evaluation of flap perfusion and decision making in microsurgical breast reconstruction
n Outcomes of lower-extremity trauma reconstruction with Taylor spatial frame fixator and muscle flaps
n Efficacy of dabigatran versus coumadin in patients with deep vein thrombosis

Click here to see selected faculty publications which reflect the breadth and depth of our basic/clinical research.