VCU Critical Injury and Illness Research Group Lands $3.5 Million In Grants For Research Using Blood Substitute

By Anne Buckley

The Office of Naval Research awarded $3.5 million in four grants to the Virginia Commonwealth University Reanimation Engineering Shock Center, VCURES, for research using the blood substitute Oxycyte in studies of decompression sickness, embolisms, traumatic brain injury and blast injuries.

VCURES is VCU's critical injury and illness research group that specifically studies the delivery of oxygen. VCURES has generated approximately $35 million in research funding over an eight-year period in work that has a myriad of applications in areas as diverse as the military, homeland security, emergency medicine and traumatic brain injury.

Oxycyte is a perfluorocarbon therapeutic oxygen carrier and blood substitute.

"These grants will allow us to expand upon the previous studies that showed early intervention with Oxycyte can prevent the destruction of nerve cells and brain tissue in a number of conditions, including decompression illness and gas embolism," said Bruce Spiess, M.D., VCU professor of anesthesiology and emergency medicine and director of VCURES.

The grants are as follows:

• $1.2 million over three years will be used in ongoing studies of perfluorocarbon emulsions in the treatment of severe decompression sickness, or DCS. DCS occurs in divers and mine workers, at high altitudes and in space flight. It also is a potential complication of rescue from a disabled submarine. Previous VCURES work has demonstrated Oxycyte's ability to significantly improve oxygen delivery to tissues and the increased removal of nitrogen from the body.
• $1.6 million over three years will support research into Oxycyte's ability to treat/prevent organ damage from arterial gas embolism, or AGE. AGE is a potential result of DCS but also occurs during a number of surgical procedures, including cardiac surgery, orthopedic-joint replacement, gynecologic surgery and neurosurgery. 
• $300,000 over two years will sponsor a post-doctoral candidate to work in the microcirculation laboratories of VCURES supporting research in AGE, DCS and other work in traumatic brain injury.
• $300,000 will be used for pilot studies into the effectiveness of Oxycyte in treating traumatic brain injury secondary to a blast. Blast injury is the largest single cause of mortality and long-term morbidity for coalition troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. VCURES already is working with Oxycyte and has shown it to be effective in treating traumatic brain injury from isolated blunt closed head injury and blast.

Jerome F. Strauss, III, M.D., Ph.D., dean of VCU's School of Medicine, said the grants "demonstrate the creativity of VCU investigators and our commitment to research that improves the care of critically ill patients."