TopMedTalk

Live from Euroanaesthesia 2026 in Rotterdam, Kate Leslie and Andy Cumpstey speak with Laszlo Vutskits and Hugh Hemmings ahead of the "Hot Topics in General Anaesthesiology" lecture.
Vutskits discusses reports of devastating neurologic outcomes after minor procedures in previously healthy patients, linked in a Spanish series to a shared mitochondrial DNA haplotype traced to Venezuela, including a rare ND4 complex I mutation; cybrid and fibroblast experiments showed clinically relevant sevoflurane rapidly suppresses oxidative phosphorylation but reversibly on washout, while propofol (tested without lipid) did not.
Hemmings highlights the DAS 2026 airway management guidance advocating video laryngoscopy as first-line for routine and difficult intubation and emphasizes continuous oxygen delivery during intubation, prompting debate about skill retention and global feasibility.
We reference this classic episode of TopMedTalk: https://topmedtalk.libsyn.com/-sunday-special-should-direct-laryngoscopy-be-consigned-to-the-history-books
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The 2026 International Practicum on Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing will be held at the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, UK, from September 16th to 18th this year. It is organised by iPOETTS , the international perioperative testing and training society.
Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.
This is an International Perioperative Testing and Training Society accredited event so when you attend you can get your iPOETTS accreditation, showing that you are a practitioner who has reached a high, standardized level of competence in performing and interpreting Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) for patients preparing for major surgery.
Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

Recorded live at the ANZCA Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland, Kate Leslie interviews Professor Alan Merry for a perioperative profile, covering his retirement from clinical practice, ongoing research supervision, and work on environmental sustainability.
Merry recounts being raised by a single mother in Zimbabwe, studying medicine at the Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine in Harare, and moving to New Zealand amid the Rhodesian Bush War. He describes entering anaesthesia after initially planning psychiatry, then becoming involved in New Zealand medical manslaughter law reform following prosecutions of clinicians, helping achieve the Crimes Amendment Act 1997's higher "major departure" threshold.
He also discusses co-authoring "Error, Medicine and the Law" with Alexander McCall Smith, establishing New Zealand's Health Quality & Safety Commission, and international quality work through WFSA, the Global Oximetry Project, and the WHO surgical safety initiative that produced the surgical safety checklist, including its Auckland implementation.
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The 2026 International Practicum on Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing will be held at the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, UK, from September 16th to 18th this year. It is organised by iPOETTS , the international perioperative testing and training society.
Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.
This is an International Perioperative Testing and Training Society accredited event so when you attend you can get your iPOETTS accreditation, showing that you are a practitioner who has reached a high, standardized level of competence in performing and interpreting Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) for patients preparing for major surgery.
Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

At the EBPOM World Congress in London; TopMedTalk's Andy Cumpsty sits down for an exclusive interview with Amy Slogrove, editor-in-chief of the new journal, The Lancet Surgery and Anaesthesiology, ahead of its public launch on 20 July and a planned first issue in early 2027.
Dr Slogrove, a South Africa–based pediatrician and epidemiologist, explains the journal's aim - to bring surgery and anaesthesiology together across the perioperative space, emphasizing research integrity, rigor, and ethics, supported by clinical peer review.
She outlines the editorial team, submission route via thelancet.com/surgery, expected decision timelines, and peer-review approach. The journal will be a monthly, small-format, hybrid subscription model, with priorities including equity, patient-centered care, sustainability, resilience of perioperative systems, and global inclusivity.
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The 2026 International Practicum on Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing will be held at the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, UK, from September 16th to 18th this year. It is organised by iPOETTS , the international perioperative testing and training society.
Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.
This is an International Perioperative Testing and Training Society accredited event so when you attend you can get your iPOETTS accreditation, showing that you are a practitioner who has reached a high, standardized level of competence in performing and interpreting Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) for patients preparing for major surgery.
Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

Recorded live at the EBPOM World Congress in London, this episode of TopMedTalk AI features host James Bowness and co-host Amy Gomes speaking with Joe Harris, anaesthesia resident and Innovation Fellow in Anaesthesia at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Foundation Trust and Sanjay Wijayatilake, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Neuro Intensive Care MedicineBarking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust about "AI demand signaling" in intensive care.
Harris explains the demand-signaling method—surveying clinicians on key problems, translating these into candidate AI use cases, prioritizing them via a Delphi panel, then exploring them in multidisciplinary workshops—to ensure AI development starts from frontline clinical needs rather than industry assumptions.
Following completion of the anesthesia project, the intensive care survey is open to UK ICM clinicians across professions until July 31, with Delphi work planned for August–September and workshops in November–December. Follow this link for more: https://demandsignal.uk/
The discussion highlights governance, regulation, liability, and "black box" concerns, alongside potential ICU applications such as reducing alarm fatigue, documentation and transcription support, ventilator and workflow assistance, medication interaction checks, and evidence synthesis to support diagnosis and treatment, emphasizing AI as a partner with a human in the loop.
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The 2026 International Practicum on Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing will be held at the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, UK, from September 16th to 18th this year. It is organised by iPOETTS , the international perioperative testing and training society.
Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.
This is an International Perioperative Testing and Training Society accredited event so when you attend you can get your iPOETTS accreditation, showing that you are a practitioner who has reached a high, standardized level of competence in performing and interpreting Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) for patients preparing for major surgery.
Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

At the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) and Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (SOCCA) meeting in Montreal, TopMedTalk hosts Mike Grocott and Desiree Chappell speak with Dr Faye Evans, Senior Associate in Perioperative Anesthesia at Boston Children's Hospital and Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Director of Partnerships on the Board of Directors for the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA).
The conversation covers efforts to improve access to safe surgery and anesthesia for children globally. Evans explains the WFSA as a society of over 150 member societies focused on advocacy, safety, quality, publications, short courses (including SAFE), and a fellowship program that has trained over 400 fellows from 62 countries.
She highlights growing emphasis on leadership, teaching, and evaluation within fellowships and describes Pediatric Anesthesia Training in Africa (PATA), formed to expand fellowship training, which has developed a shared curriculum and launched four programs with support from ELMA Philanthropies and Smile Train. Evans outlines ways to get involved through teaching, virtual support, and donations via the WFSA website.
If you would like to support the WFSA Scholars Program we mention this link in the show: https://wfsahq.org/get-involved/donate/
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The 2026 International Practicum on Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing will be held at the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, UK, from September 16th to 18th this year. It is organised by iPOETTS , the international perioperative testing and training society.
Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.
This is an International Perioperative Testing and Training Society accredited event so when you attend you can get your iPOETTS accreditation, showing that you are a practitioner who has reached a high, standardized level of competence in performing and interpreting Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) for patients preparing for major surgery.
Go now to http://www.ebpom.org