The I3PT incorporates the research group of hemodynamics, microcirculation and tissue oxygenation in the critically ill patient

• The aim of the team is the study of microcirculation and tissue oxygenation in the critically ill patient, as well as the development of new non-invasive technologies that allow the comprehensive evaluation of the cardiovascular system, from macrohemodynamics to the endothelial function of the microvasculature

The study of cardiovascular function is fundamental in the care of the critically ill to prevent complications, optimize the supply of oxygen and nutrients to organs and tissues, and be able to guide therapeutic interventions. unfortunately, its monitoring at the bedside remains a challenge even today which requires multidisciplinary approaches and for which invasive procedures are usually used that add risk and complexity.

In this context, the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT) has created the research group on hemodynamics, microcirculation and tissue oxygenation in the critically ill patient, under the coordination of James Mesquida, intensive care physician and researcher at Parc Taulí. The aim of the team is the study of microcirculation and tissue oxygenation in the critical patient, as well as the development of new non-invasive technologies that allow the comprehensive evaluation of the cardiovascular system, from macrohemodynamics to endothelial function of the microvasculature.

The group was born within the Critical Patient Translational Research group, one of the main consolidated groups of the I3PT, and has gradually acquired its own entity. Currently, it consists of eight researchers. Although most of them are intensivists, the plan is to be able to expand the team with profiles with those who currently collaborate, such as rehabilitators and physiotherapists.

Advances in the field of microcirculation

La microcirculation it is composed of the smallest blood vessels in our body. The complexity and technical difficulties associated with its study, however, make it still an unknown area in many respects. One of the group's challenges, according to Mesquida, is "to go one step deeper into what we are able to see of a patient at the bedside, to go one step further than the heart and arteries and to be able to observe the microvasculature".

For this purpose, the group works on the development and improvement of a non-invasive infrared light technology, which acts as a sensor and is placed in the area to be monitored.

Alliances with reference entities

From 2020, the group has consolidated a strategic alliance with the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), which has led him to lead international studies, to receive funding for different projects - in which a Horizon2020 grant for VASCOVID project in the year 2021, one Marathon 2021 project and the granting of a Marie Curie grant in the FLIGHT-COFUND program of the EU – and to jointly deploy tools and technologies within the field of biomedical research.

Mesquida also acknowledges that he hopes the alliance will continue to grow over the years and states that they are currently in the process of patenting new variables and tools that they have generated together. "We have the challenge of continuing to take steps in terms of clinical validation, evaluating all the different scenarios where this new technology could be useful and see how we can apply it in specific fields of intensive care medicine."

Beyond the scientific production, reflected in the publication of more than 40 articles in indexed journals in this period, the group has produced 3 doctoral theses - those of Jaume Mesquida, Guillem Gruartmoner and Paula Saludes) and, currently, has 3 registered doctoral theses (those of Cristina Espinal, Alba Caballer and Sara Nogales).