Dr. Kimmo Murto is a pediatric anesthesiologist and former cardiac anesthesiologist and Medical Director of Strategy and Performance at CHEO. He is an Associate Professor with the University of Ottawa, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine (DAPM) and a CHEO Research Institute Level Two (2) Investigator for the “Improvements Now!: Acute and Critical Care Team (INACCT)” research group. Currently, he is the Director of Research for the CHEO Department site, a member of both the Canadian Pediatric Anesthesia Society (CPAS) and the Society for Advancement in Patient Blood Management (SABM) Scientific Committees and is a member of the Society of Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA) Patient Blood Management Special Interest Group (PBM SIG). He is the founding past Chair of both the CHEO Transfusion Medicine and Infusion Therapy and the Society of Anesthesia and Sleep Medicine (SASM) pediatric committees. His interests include the perioperative care of children undergoing adenotonsillectomy, managing massive hemorrhage and perioperative blood transfusion/conservation, developing clinical prediction/decision making tools, drug PKs and PDs and utilizing technology for healthcare service delivery. His recent activity includes presentations related to managing pediatric massive hemorrhage, a provincial roll-out of an Ontario Regional Blood Coordinating Network (ORBCoN) sponsored standardized pediatric massive hemorrhage protocol and related quality improvement dashboard and an RCT investigating celecoxib PKs. He is the lead author of Chapter 33: Otorhinolaryngologic Procedures in the soon to be published 7th edition of “A Practice of Anesthesia for Infants and Children” textbook edited by CJ Cote, J Lerman and BJ Anderson.
Other Areas of Research: Blood Research (Vasculitis, Hematology, Thrombosis), Massive hemorrhage, Patient Blood Management, Clinical Prediction/Decision-making Tools, Technology for Healthcare Service Delivery
Research Projects
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Modeling adult COX-2 cerebrospinal fluid pharmacokinetics to inform pediatric investigation
01/11/2021
Transfer of unbound COX-2 inhibitors from plasma to CSF compartment can be described with a delayed effect model using an equilibration rate constant to collapse observed hysteresis. An additional transfer factor was required to account for passage across the blood-brain barrier. Use of a target concentration strategy for dose and consequent plasma (total and unbound) and CSF concentration prediction could be used to inform pediatric clinical studies.
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Predictors of postoperative respiratory complications in children undergoing adenotonsillectomy
15/01/2020
Prediction modeling concurrently evaluating comorbidities and polysomnography metrics identified cardiac disease, airway anomaly, and young age as independent predictors of PRAEs. These findings suggest that medical comorbidity and age are more important factors in predicting PRAEs than PSG metrics in a medically complex population.
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A regional massive hemorrhage protocol developed through a modified Delphi technique
03/09/2019
This MHP template will provide the basis for the design of an MHP toolkit, including specific recommendations for pediatric and obstetrical patients, and for hospitals with limited availability of blood components or means to achieve definitive hemorrhage control. We believe that harmonization of MHPs in our region will simplify training, increase uptake of evidence-based interventions, enhance communication, improve patient comfort and safety, and, ultimately, improve patient outcomes.