Brief Curriculum Vitae: Oliver H.G. Wilder-Smith Undergraduate education Liverpool University Medical School/UK (MBChB) (1980) Postgraduate education J.-W. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main/D (MD) (1985) Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen/NL (PhD) (2002) Medical Specialisation Anaesthesiologist (Facharzt für Anaesthesiologie, Landesärztekammer Hessen, Frankfurt am Main/D). Training for specialisation took place at the Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik Frankfurt am Main and Philipps-Universität Marburg, both in Germany. Membership of professional organisations: - ESA (European Society of Anaesthesiologists)
- IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain)
- IARS (International Anesthesia Research Society)
- NVA (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Anesthesiologie)
- SGSS (Schweizerische Gesellschaft zum Studium des Schmerzes)
Present Position Associate Professor (UHD) for Pain and Nociception
Head, Pain and Nociception Research Group
Consultant in Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands. This is a university and senior staff appointment including clinical, research and teaching responsibilities in pain medicine and anaesthesia.
Major responsibility: development, setup and running of human and clinical pain research in the Department of Anaesthesiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. Summary of achievements to date: - Successful application for grants: 1) Pfizer Independent Research Grant (No. 2004-0674: pain chronification mechanisms and prevention after surgery for breast cancer recruiting 110 patients over 2 years, with a follow-up period of one year) and 2) Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZONMW), Den Haag, Netherlands grant (No. 11000.0002: study of pain chronification mechanisms and prevention after surgery using active and passive QST testing, involves 400 patients, lasts two years, and has a follow-up period of one year).
- Publication and defence of a Dutch PhD thesis on the use of nociceptive neuroplasticity, measured by quantitative sensory testing (QST), as the basis of a mechanism-based approach to perioperative pain management. The thesis summarises the results of 6-7 years’ research on the use of QST to systematically study surgical nociceptive neuroplasticity, its effects on pain and other outcomes, and its pharmacological modulation.
- Development, set-up and direction of Pain and Nociception Research Group (PNRG). Main goal: to perform interdisciplinary pain and nociception research, with particular regard to nociceptive neuroplasticity and its relation to pain and disease outcomes. This is achieved via internal (e.g. surgery, neurosurgery, physiotherapy) and external collaborations and the integration of basic and clinical pain and nociception research. In the field of nociception and pain research, PNRG co-ordinates clinical investigations on acute and chronic pain, assures synchronization of basic and clinical research, and provides a discussion and presentation forum for the work performed.
- Development, set-up and running of Nociception Quantification Research Facility (NQRF). Purpose: validating and providing tools for measuring and quantifying neuroplasticity accompanying acute and chronic pain and nociception.
- Development and running of international collaborational pain research network. Main partner: Laboratory for Experimental Pain Research, Centre for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Aalborg University, Denmark (Prof. Lars Arendt-Nielsen). Further collaborations: Denmark (Laboratory for Visceral Pain and Biomechanics, Centre for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Aalborg University; Prof. Asbjoern Drewes), Norway (Oslo University Dental School; Prof. Lasse Skoglund), France (INSERM; Prof. Daniel Le Bars), Netherlands (Twente University, Dr. Jan Buitenweg; F.C. Donders Centre, Prof. Guilllen Fernandez).
Summary of research activities in progress: - Techniques: quantitative sensory testing (QST), electrophysiology (e.g. EEG, event-related potentials: EMG, R-III reflex) and advanced neuroimaging (fMRI)
- Acute pain: perioperative medicine/post-operative pain (e.g. after mastectomy, thoracotomy, hemicolectomy, sternotomy, back surgery), emergency medicine (fractures, acute pancreatitis and pain and outcome).
- Pain chronification: studying the transition from acute to chronic pain, particularly in the perioperative context; predicting vulnerability to pain chronification, therapeutic modulation of pain chronification
- Chronic pain: visceral pain (e.g. chronic pancreatitis, IBS/IBD), phantom/stump pain (e.g. after limb amputation, mastectomy), neuropathic pain (e.g. CRPS), low back pain (QST, R-III reflex). Also: mechanisms of non-pharmacological treatments for chronic pain (TENS, spinal cord stimulation, motor cortex stimulation).
Recent positions - Director, Nociception Research Group, Berne University, Switzerland
- Consultant Anaesthesiologist with special interest in Neuroanaesthesia, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Consultant Anaesthesiologist with special interest in Neuroanaesthesia and Neurointensive Care, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland.
Other positions - President of the Board, EuroPain, Brussels, Belgium (1998 - 2005)
- Chairman, EuroPain Working Party on Acute Nociception, Brussels, Belgium (1995 – 2005)
- Advisory Board Memberships for analgesic pharmaceutical and medical device development.
Clinical Interests - Diagnosis and pharmacological therapy of acute and chronic pain
- Pain chronification
- Perioperative pain
- Non-pharmacological analgesia
- Quality management for pain medicine
- Monitoring and diagnostics of CNS function
- Neuroanaesthesia
Research Interests - Pain mechanisms – alterations in CNS function due to pain and nociception, mechanisms of pain chronification
- Pain outcomes – surgical outcome and its relation to nociception, outcome of chronic pain syndromes and their relation to nociception and neuroplasticity
- Pain measurement and quantification – quantitative sensory and neurophysiological diagnostics in pain medicine
- Pain management – development and monitoring of mechanism-orientated approaches to pain treatment
- Pain and technology – development of pain and outcome patient databases, development of novel pain diagnostic tools and data-gathering devices
Academic activities - More than 80 original publications in international journals; 15 book chapters in medical textbooks
- Regular invited scientific lecturing activity at universities and international conferences (more than 80 invited lectures)
- University undergraduate and postgraduate teaching for medicine, medical/biological sciences and medical technology
- Opponent and promoter/supervisor for multiple PhDs
- Associate editor European Journal of Pain
- Regular reviewer for international pain and anaesthesia journals
- Expert reviewer for VENI-round (ZonMw - the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development) and Pain Networks (German Ministry for Education and Research)
Selection of recent publications 1: Oosterhof J, De Boo TM, Oostendorp RA, Wilder-Smith OH, Crul BJ. Outcome of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in chronic pain: short-term results of a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.J Headache Pain. 2006 Aug 11; [Epub ahead of print]
2: Pluijms WA, Steegers MA, Verhagen AF, Scheffer GJ, Wilder-Smith OH. Chronic post-thoracotomy pain: a retrospective study. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2006 Aug;50(7):804-8.
3: Buscher HC, van Goor H, Wilder-Smith OH. Effect of thoracoscopic splanchnic denervation on pain processing in chronic pancreatitis patients. Eur J Pain. 2006 Jul 12; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 16843020 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
4: van Esch AA, Wilder-Smith OH, Jansen JB, van Goor H, Drenth JP. Pharmacological management of pain in chronic pancreatitis. Dig Liver Dis. 2006 Jul;38(7):518-26. Epub 2006 Apr 14.
5: Wilder-Smith OH, Arendt-Nielsen L. Postoperative hyperalgesia: its clinical importance and relevance. Anesthesiology. 2006 Mar;104(3):601-7. Review.
6: Wolff AP, Groen GJ, Wilder-Smith OH, Richardson J, van Egmond J, Crul BJ. Do diagnostic segmental nerve root blocks in chronic low back pain patients with radiation to the leg lack distinct sensory effects? A preliminary study. Br J Anaesth. 2006 Feb;96(2):253-8. Epub 2006 Jan 3.
7: Vaneker M, Wilder-Smith OH, Schrombges P, Oerlemans HM. Impairments as measured by ISS do not greatly change between one and eight years after CRPS 1 diagnosis. Eur J Pain. 2005 Nov 18; [Epub ahead of print]
8: Buscher HC, Wilder-Smith OH, van Goor H. Chronic pancreatitis patients show hyperalgesia of central origin: a pilot study. Eur J Pain. 2006 May;10(4):363-70. Epub 2005 Aug 8.
9: Vaneker M, Wilder-Smith OH, Schrombges P, de Man-Hermsen I, Oerlemans HM. Patients initially diagnosed as 'warm' or 'cold' CRPS 1 show differences in central sensory processing some eight years after diagnosis: a quantitative sensory testing study. Pain. 2005 May;115(1-2):204-11.
10: Wilder-Smith OH. Opioid use in the elderly. Eur J Pain. 2005 Apr;9(2):137-40. Review.
12: Wolff AP, Wilder Smith OH, Crul BJ, van de Heijden MP, Groen GJ. Lumbar segmental nerve blocks with local anesthetics, pain relief, and motor function: a prospective double-blind study between lidocaine and ropivacaine. Anesth Analg. 2004 Aug;99(2):496-501.
13: Wilder-Smith OH, Tassonyi E, Crul BJ, Arendt-Nielsen L. Quantitative sensory testing and human surgery: effects of analgesic management on postoperative neuroplasticity. Anesthesiology. 2003 May;98(5):1214-22.
14: Wilder-Smith OH, Tassonyi E, Arendt-Nielsen L. Preoperative back pain is associated with diverse manifestations of central neuroplasticity. Pain. 2002 Jun;97(3):189-94.
15: Wilder-Smith OH, Mohrle JJ, Martin NC. Acute pain management after surgery or in the emergency room in Switzerland: a comparative survey of Swiss anaesthesiologists and surgeons.
Eur J Pain. 2002;6(3):189-201.
16: Wilder-Smith OH, Mohrle JJ, Dolin PJ, Martin NC. The management of chronic pain in Switzerland: a comparative survey of Swiss medical specialists treating chronic pain. Eur J Pain. 2001;5(3):285-98. |
