Education & Research

Anesthesia Research & Development — Hartford Division

IAA is affiliated with multiple research and development programs, allowing team members to work on cutting edge anesthesia research. Contact us to learn more. 



Retrospective Cohort Studies

Thoracic Trauma Study- A Retrospective Cohort Study to Compare Clinical Outcomes of Continuous Regional Plane Blocks (Erector Spinae or Serratus Anterior) vs. Thoracic Epidural Catheter vs. No Regional Block in Patients With Fractured Ribs Thoracic Trauma

PI: Kevin Finkel, MD/ Co-PI: Nishant Merchant, MD / IRB # HHC-2022-0052

This study is a retrospective review in collaboration with the Trauma Surgery and Emergency Trauma Departments at Hartford Hospital. The primary objective is to determine if there are differences in using either CESPB, CSAPB, or epidural catheters on the following clinical outcomes: opioid consumption, pain control, hospital and ICU length-of-stay, the incidence of procedural complications, to assess hemodynamic instability, the need for and the amount vasoactive support, management of VTE prophylactic medications, incidence of complications like delirium; pneumonia, UTI, and mortality rate. Other trauma-related outcomes include time to the first ambulation, time to discharge from ED, time to initiate regional anesthesia regimen, ventilator duration, rate of tracheostomy, de-saturation episodes. Secondary objectives include a comparison of all three regional analgesia types as one group to a non-block group in terms of pain control, opioid consumption, hospital, and ICU length-of-stay, and the incidence of complications. The tertiary objective is to assess whether there were socioeconomic, ethnic, or racial disparities present in the treatment of those patients. This study is currently approved by IRB and open.

LEADACT – Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Disparities in Lower Extremity Amputation and Post-Amputation Rehabilitation in the United States: Retrospective Review of the Vascular Quality Initiative, Vascular Study Group of New England, and Hartford Hospital Data Registries.

PI: Trevor Sutton, MD, MBA / IRB# HHC-2021-0321

This study is a collaboration with the Heart and Vascular Research Institute and Vascular Surgery Department at Hartford Hospital. The objective of this study is to compare the preoperative and postoperative management trajectories, surgical outcomes, and post-amputation rehabilitation outcomes of patients with lower extremity peripheral vascular disease during two time periods; prior to the Affordable Care Act (2004 – 2009) and following its implementation (2015- 2020). The study is approved by HHC IRB and is in the data collection stage.

ERACS – Enhanced Recovery After Cardiac Surgery Reduces Duration of Ventilation and Likelihood of Re-Intubation Following Urgent and Emergency Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery.

PI: Trevor Sutton, MD, MBA / IRB# HHC-2021-0240
This study is a retrospective review, in collaboration with the Heart and Vascular Research Institute, Cardiology and Cardiac surgery Departments. The primary objectives are to determine the impact of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) on isolated coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) outcomes, assess associations between ERAS and CABG outcomes in a subgroup of minority patients, and determine the association between ERAS implementation and institutional racial/ethnic CABG outcome disparities. An abstract of this study was accepted for ePoster presentation at the annual meeting of the International Anesthesia Research Society IARS, while the study article is still underwriting the final manuscript stage.

POStoperative Serratus anterior and Erector spinae plane BLock catheters In video-assisted Thoracoscopic surgerY (POSSEBiLITY)

PI: Carla Maffeo-Mitchell, MD / IRB #E-HHC-2021-0097

A single-center, retrospective cohort study at Hartford Hospital in the protocol stage looking at the evolution of serratus anterior and erector spinae blocks for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical patients. The primary outcomes of this study include VAS pain scores, hospital length-of-stay, and opioid consumption. This study is approved by HHC IRB and is in the data collection stage.

Contact Us

If you would like to learn more about IAA Hartford Division Research, please contact us. We would love to hear from you.

Mailing Address
Department of Anesthesia Research and Development / Department of Anesthesiology
Hartford Hospital, 80 Seymour Street, JB321, Hartford, CT 06102

Office Hours
Monday – Friday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Kevin J. Finkel, MD, FASA
Director of Research, Hartford Division
Anesthesia Research & Development Department, Hartford Division
Email Dr. Finkel

Aseel Walker, MD
Senior Project Management Specialist
Anesthesia Research & Development Department, Hartford Division
Email Aseel Walker

Edmund (Tamas) Takata, MS
Medical Writer | Research & Quality Coordinator
Anesthesia Research & Development Department, Hartford Division
Email Edmund Takata

Med students, residents, fellows, and others are encouraged to contact:

Kevin J. Finkel, MD, FASA

Kevin J. Finkel, MD, FASA
Director of Clinical Research,
Hartford Division

Tel: (860) 972-2117
Fax: (860) 545-1784
Email Dr. Finkel

Aseel Walker, MD
Senior Project Management Specialist
Hartford Hospital
Email Aseel

Edmund Takata, MS
Medical Writer | Research & Quality Coordinator
Hartford Hospital
Email Edmund

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