FACULTY

Mertes P.M.

Professor Paul Michel Mertes is Professor of Anaesthesia – Intensive Care and Professor of Physiology. He is the head of the anaesthesia-intensive care department at the University Hospital of Strasbourg (France). He is the head of the French network that brings together specialized consultations in perioperative allergy in France (GERAP). This network which analyses all the reactions of perioperative anaphylaxis that occur each year in France, was founded 40 years ago and regularly publishes its results. Since 2001, these data have helped to develop the first guidelines, regularly updated, concerning the prevention of hypersensitivity reactions occurring in the perioperative period. This network carried out the ALPHO study, which led the EMA to recommend the withdrawal of all drugs containing Pholcodine, in order to reduce the risk of cross-sensitization with neuromuscular blocking agents in November 2022. He is a founding member of the ISPAR group, a multidisciplinary group of clinicians and academics working in the field of perioperative allergy. ISPAR is dedicated to the prevention, clinical recognition, clinical management and diagnostic investigation of suspected perioperative allergic reactions. He is the European Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (ESAIC) representative for ISPAR. He also leads a research group on the pathophysiology of anaphylactic shock and develops new therapeutic approaches. He is also one of the co-authors of the recent guidelines concerning the enhanced recovery after cardiac surgery under CPB or off-pump published in France, and play an active role in the development of patient blood management in cardiovascular surgery.