Ersilia Luca

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic

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About

Ersilia Luca is a leading anesthesiology researcher whose work focuses on the perioperative challenges of robotic-assisted surgery, particularly in elderly and vulnerable patient populations. Her key research areas include neurocognitive outcomes, cerebral hemodynamics, and neuromuscular blockade management during minimally invasive procedures. Luca’s major contributions center on understanding how extreme surgical positioning—such as steep Trendelenburg and reverse Trendelenburg—combined with pneumoperitoneum, affects cardiovascular and cerebral physiology. Her most-cited paper (2023, 13 citations) systematically outlines these challenges for elderly patients, highlighting risks to cardiac output and mean arterial pressure. In a subsequent study (3 citations), she pioneered the investigation of middle cerebral artery pulsatility index as a predictor of delayed neurocognitive recovery after robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy, a novel link between intraoperative cerebral blood flow changes and postoperative cognitive disorders. Her most recent work (2025) explores optimized sugammadex dosing for deep neuromuscular blockade recovery in elderly patients undergoing these procedures. Luca’s research is instrumental in advancing safer anesthetic protocols for the growing population of older adults undergoing robotic surgery, bridging critical gaps in understanding how surgical positioning impacts brain health and recovery.