Douglas Pfeil, MD, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Contact Information
111 South 11th Street
Suite 8280
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-955-6161
215-923-5507 fax
Clinical Assistant Professor
Education
Medical School
PhD, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, NY - 2014
MD, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, NY - 2016
Residency
Anesthesiology, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, NY - 2020
Fellowship
Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA - 2021
Recent Publications
- Feasibility of near-infrared spectroscopic tomography for intraoperative functional cerebral monitoring: A primate study
- Simultaneous low-pass filtering and total variation denoising
- Cerebral monitoring and surveillance using high-resolution functional optical imaging
- Histopathological and radiological validation of continuous wave (CW) near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) recordings during cerebral intravascular manipulations
- A programmable laboratory testbed in support of evaluation of functional brain activation
Board Certification
American Board of Anesthesiology
National Board of Echocardiography
Research & Clinical Interest
Upwards of 50% of patients undergoing cardiac surgery will experience post-operative cognitive decline (POCD). Cerebral oximetry is a non-invasive light-based technology that may be able to help predict this cognitive decline and allow for intervention early in the post-operative period. While regional saturation values are the industry-standard for monitoring patients under anesthesia, I am investigating other biomarkers and metrics that may be derived from cerebral oximetry to better identify patients that are at risk for POCD.
Additionally, I am interested in identifying intra-operative medications and interventions that may reduce post-operative pain, and reduce the use of post-operative opioids in cardiac surgery. Recently, methadone was demonstrated to be superior to other opioids in controlling pain post-sternotomy. I am currently trying to identify the appropriate dose of methadone for non-sternotomy cardiac surgery, such as procedures performed via mini-sternotomy, thoracotomy, or port-site incisions.