Research Interests

• Dr. TIAN’s research interests are the impacts of anesthesia on tumor progression and postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). In the area of anesthesia and tumor progression, her research group has revealed that anesthetics and analgesics and other non-surgical perioperative interventions, i.e., opioids, dexmedetomidine, or general anesthesia per se, during cancer resection surgery might significantly influence cancer biology and outcomes. Her recent work uncovered the ability of opioids to facilitate circulating tumor cells formation and expanded the current knowledge of the complex impact of opioids on cancer progression. In the field of POCD, her group revealed that the pre-operative status of patients’ cholinergic system determines the incidence of POCD in the elderlies. Furthermore, she investigated how the cholinergic system was altered after surgery in the elderlies and explored several strategies to maintain the system which could have potential preventive or therapeutic effects in POCD. Recently, the research group led by Dr. Tian highlighted the critical role of gut microbial dysbiosis in the development of POCD.