Wilton van Klei

After obtaining a MSc in Clinical Epidemiology, a PhD in 2002 and completing postgraduate training as anesthesiologist in the Netherlands (Utrecht, 2006), Wilton van Klei did a clinical and research fellowship in perioperative medicine (Ottawa, Ontario, 2007). He returned to Utrecht in the Netherlands to complete a fellowship in cardiothoracic anesthesia (2009). From 2007 to 2012, he was the Medical Director of the Outpatient Preoperative Evaluation Clinic of the University Medical Center Utrecht. Subsequently, he served as the Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology in Utrecht (2013-2021). In July 2021 he started as the R Fraser Elliott Chair in Cardiac Anesthesia at the University Health Network Toronto.

Research Synopsis

Wilton van Klei is a specialist in perioperative medicine and cardiovascular anesthesia. His research interests focus on improving care for high-risk surgical patients, and involved collaborations with cardiologists, surgeons, clinical chemists, radiologists and epidemiologists within the UMC Utrecht’s Circulatory Health research programme. He is supervising several PhD students on clinical research projects in the field of cardiovascular perioperative medicine. Most projects aim to unravel further the etiology, detection and treatment of intraoperative hypotension and asymptomatic myocardial injury after surgery.

Recent Publications

Marije Marsman, Judith AR van Waes, Remco B Grobben, Corien SA Weersink, Wilton A van Klei: Added value of subjective assessed functional capacity before noncardiac surgery in predicting postoperative myocardial injury and infarction. A cohort study. Eur J Prevent Cardiol 2021; 28: 262-269

Wietze Pasma, Esther M Wesselink, Stef van Buuren, Jurgen C de Graaff, Wilton A van Klei: Artifacts annotations in anesthesia blood pressure data by man and machine. J Clin Mon Comp 2021; 35: 259-267

Corien SA Weersink, Judith AR van Waes, Remco B Grobben, Hendrik M Nathoe, Wilton A van Klei: Patient selection for routine troponin monitoring after noncardiac surgery. JAHA 2021; : in press

Wilton A van Klei, Markus W Hollmann, J Robert Sneyd: The value of anaesthesiologists in the COVID-19 pandemic – a model for our future practice? Br J Anaesth 2020; 125: 652-5

Annemarie Akkermans, Judith A van Waes, Tristan P van Doormaal, Eric E de Waal, Gabriël J Rinkel, Albert van der Zwan, Cor J Kalkman, Wilton A van Klei: The effect of dobutamine and phenylephrine on cerebral perfusion in patients undergoing cerebral bypass surgery: a randomized crossover trial. Br J Anaesth 2020; 125: 539-547

Lisette M Vernooij, Wilton A van Klei, Karel GM Moons, Judith A van Waes, Linda M Peelen: Methods to express intraoperative hypotension exposure in anesthesia literature. Br J Anaesth 2020; 124: e35-7

Annemarie Akkermans, Judith A van Waes, Linda M Peelen, Gabriel J Rinkel, Wilton A van Klei: Blood pressure and end-tidal carbon dioxide ranges during aneurysm occlusion and neurological outcome after an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Anesthesiology 2019; 130: 92-105

Annemarie Akkermans, Linda M Peelen, Judith A van Waes, Gabriël J Rinkel, Wilton A van Klei: Cardiac events within one year after a subarachnoid hemorrhage: the predictive value of troponin elevation after aneurysm occlusion. Eur J Prevent Cardiol 2019; 26: 420-8

EM Wesselink, TH Kappen, HM Torn, AJ Slooter, WA van Klei: Intraoperative hypotension and the risk of postoperative adverse outcomes: a systematic review. Br J Anaesth 2018; 121: 706-21

LM Vernooij, WA van Klei, M Machina, W Pasma, WS Beattie, LM Peelen: Different methods of modelling intraoperative hypotension and their association with postoperative complications in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Br J Anaesth 2018; 120: 1080-9

Honours and Awards

International Anesthesia Research Association