Anesthesiologists make a significant contribution to the care and treatment of severely injured patients. Beyond the concept of anesthesia and analgesia, the specialty of anesthesiology focuses on the preservation of vital organ function and pain management in all phases of trauma. In order to provide patients in AUVA hospitals with evidence-based medicine at the highest level and at the cutting edge of science, a research group focusing on coagulopathy and clinical bleeding management was founded at the LBI Trauma in 2009 by anesthesiologist Herbert Schöchl from the AUVA trauma center in Salzburg.  Since then, the group has steadily developed and has been able to significantly shape this field of medicine during this time.

With the beginning of 2023, the research group “Translational Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine” (TAP) was put on a new foundation and expanded to include other core topics of anesthesiology. Johannes Zipperle (AUVA Medical Directorate) was appointed as working group leader, and Gerhard Fritsch from Salzburg UKH was appointed for the clinical leadership of the group, which is dedicated to interdisciplinarity, innovation and the promotion of young researchers. Fritsch and Zipperle see the translational nature of their work as the most important principle of their research. I.e. that projects that have arisen from clinical questions are implemented at different levels of the scientific process (from basic research to preclinical and clinical research). Conversely, the group aims to maintain a constant interplay between the clinics and the laboratory. In this process, advanced solutions suitable for everyday use in the clinic are to be developed within the framework of scientific studies.

A wide range of research projects from laboratory studies to preclinical models to purely clinical studies provide the translational approach to scientific problem solving.

Focus areas within the group:

1. Trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC)
2. Clinical questions and basic research in the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine

Ongoing Projects:

• “Influence of Regional Anesthesia on the Acute Compartment-Syndrome”
• “Platelet function in major trauma”
• “Influence of Severe Trauma on the Innate and Congenital Immune System”
• “Point-of-care diagnostics and goal-directed therapy in bleeding management”