Dr Mark Edwards
BMedSci, BMBS, MRCP, FRCA, MD(Res)
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Honorary Associate Professor
Profile page(s)
Dr Edwards is an anaesthetist/perioperative physician and researcher at UHS. His clinical activities include anaesthesia for major adult surgery and preoperative optimisation. He leads service development within perioperative medicine as the clinical lead for preoperative assessment.
He completed his higher degree in perioperative immunology and postoperative morbidity at University College London before moving to Southampton in 2013. He now pursues his research interests in individualised perioperative fluid therapy, emergency surgery care and efficient trial designs. He is Chief Investigator of the NIHR-funded FLO-ELA (FLuid Optimisation in Emergency LAparotomy) and CAMELOT (Continuous rectus sheath Analgesia in Emergency LaparOTomy) trials, and Deputy Chief Investigator of the OPTIMISE II trial.
He is Deputy Directory of the RCoA UK Perioperative Medicine Clinical Trials Network and the regional lead for integrated academic training in anaesthesia and critical care.
Landmark publications:
1. Prowle JR, Forni LG, Bell M, Chew MS, Edwards M, Grams ME, et al. Postoperative acute kidney injury in adult non-cardiac surgery: joint consensus report of the Acute Disease Quality Initiative and PeriOperative Quality Initiative. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2021 May 11;1–14.
2. Edwards MR, Forbes G, MacDonald N, Berdunov V, Mihaylova B, Dias P, et al. Optimisation of Perioperative Cardiovascular Management to Improve Surgical Outcome II (OPTIMISE II) trial: study protocol for a multicentre international trial of cardiac output-guided fluid therapy with low-dose inotrope infusion compared with usual care in patients undergoing major elective gastrointestinal surgery. BMJ Open. 2019 15;9(1):e023455.
3. Ackland GL, Abbott TEF, Cain D, Edwards MR, Sultan P, Karmali SN, et al. Preoperative systemic inflammation and perioperative myocardial injury: prospective observational multicentre cohort study of patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Br J Anaesth. 2019 Feb;122(2):180–7.
4. West MA, van Dijk DPJ, Gleadowe F, Reeves T, Primrose JN, Abu Hilal M, et al. Myosteatosis is associated with poor physical fitness in patients undergoing hepatopancreatobiliary surgery. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2019 Aug;10(4):860–71.
5. Sessler DI, Bloomstone JA, Aronson S, Berry C, Gan TJ, Kellum JA, et al. Perioperative Quality Initiative consensus statement on intraoperative blood pressure, risk and outcomes for elective surgery. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2019;122(5):563–74.
6. Sanders RD, Hughes F, Shaw A, Thompson A, Bader A, Hoeft A, et al. Perioperative Quality Initiative consensus statement on preoperative blood pressure, risk and outcomes for elective surgery. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2019;122(5):552–62.
7. McEvoy MD, Gupta R, Koepke EJ, Feldheiser A, Michard F, Levett D, et al. Perioperative Quality Initiative consensus statement on postoperative blood pressure, risk and outcomes for elective surgery. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2019;122(5):575–86.
8. Levett DZH, Edwards M, Grocott M, Mythen M. Preparing the patient for surgery to improve outcomes. Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol. 2016 Jun;30(2):145–57.
9. Edwards MR, Sultan P, Gutierrez Del Arroyo A, Whittle J, Karmali SN, Moonesinghe SR, et al. Metabolic dysfunction in lymphocytes promotes postoperative morbidity. Clin Sci. 2015 Apr 20;129(5):423–37.
10. Sultan P, Edwards MR, Gutierrez del Arroyo A, Cain D, Sneyd JR, Struthers R, et al. Cardiopulmonary Exercise Capacity and Preoperative Markers of Inflammation. Mediators of Inflammation. 2014 Jun 26;2014:e727451.
11. Ackland GL, Edwards M. Defining higher-risk surgery. Current Opinion in Critical Care. 2010 Aug;16(4):339–46.
12. Grocott MPW, Plumb JOM, Edwards M, Fecher-Jones I, Levett DZH. Re-designing the pathway to surgery: better care and added value. Perioperative Medicine. 2017 Jun 20;6:9.
Major grants:
Chief Investigator, CAMELOT trial (Continuous rectus sheath analgesia in emergency laparotomy) - £1.6m NIHR HTA funded June 2021
Chief Investigator, FLO-ELA trial (FLuid Optimisation in Emergency LAparotomy) - £1.2m NIHR HTA funded October 2016
Deputy Chief Investigator, OPTIMISE II trial (haemodynamic therapy in major gastrointestinal surgery) – £1m Edwards Lifescience / NIHR funded July 2016
Co-applicant, GAP trial (Gabapentin for acute pain in postsurgical patients) - £1.1m NIHR HTA funded May 2016
Impact example:
The FLO-ELA trial is a national exemplar of efficient and cost-effective data-enabled perioperative clinical trials. Definitive evidence on the effectiveness of individualised perioperative fluid therapy during emergency surgery will be delivered at a fraction of the per-patient costs of conventional trials. The model of outcomes data linkage to an existing anaesthesia-led national audit (National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) has since been replicated by other major UK perioperative trials (e.g. VITAL trial linked to the Perioperative Quality Improvement Project).