About

Professor Christos Lazaridis is a neurointensivist at the University of Chicago, specializing in the care of critically ill neurological and neurosurgical patients. His clinical and research interests include neuromonitoring, management of traumatic brain injury, and neurocritical care ethics. He has a background in medicine from Pécs University Medical School in Hungary, completed neurology training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and further specialized in neurocritical care at Johns Hopkins University. Lazaridis has also received training in neurotrauma critical care at Cambridge University and critical care medicine at the University of Toronto. He is actively involved in research, including NIH-funded studies such as the Brain Oxygen Optimization in Severe TBI trial, and has contributed extensively to the scientific literature on topics like brain blood flow, intracranial pressure management, and ethical issues in neurocritical care. Lazaridis enjoys teaching fellows, residents, and medical students, and has a focus on advancing clinical practices and ethical standards in neurocritical care. His work emphasizes the importance of multimodal neuromonitoring, ethical decision-making in disorders of consciousness, and improving management strategies for severe traumatic brain injuries.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Sociology
• Engineering
• Intensive care medicine
• Psychiatry
• Surgery
• Demography
• Virology
• Internal medicine
• Emergency medicine

Selected publications

• Neuromonitoring during heart retrieval using thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion: A prospective cohort study

  The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation · 2026-01-21 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Brain Imaging Features in Patients with Gunshot Wounds to the Head

  Journal of Neurotrauma · 2025-02-03 · 4 citations

  article

  To introduce the UChicago PBI Imaging score, a novel characterization of imaging features using head computed tomography (HCT) in patients with gunshot wounds to the head (GSWH) resulting in penetrating brain injury (PBI) and to quantify the association with mortality. We retrospectively collected and analyzed data from 230 patients with GSWH admitted to our Level 1 trauma center between May 1, 2018, and October 31, 2023. HCT images obtained on hospital arrival were evaluated for predefined imaging features by two blinded readers and arbitrated, when needed, by a third. The average contribution of each radiological feature to mortality at hospital discharge was assessed using a SuperLearner ensemble model trained on ∼77% of the cohort. Each feature's contribution was scaled to ensure the additive final score per patient ranged between 0 and 100. The HCT features predicting in-hospital mortality, ranked from highest to lowest importance, were transhemispheric projectile below the level of the third ventricle (18 [16.8, 19.9]), presence of blood in the lateral ventricles (ventricles casted) (18[16.8, 19.6]), brainstem involvement (14 [12.7, 15.1]), transhemispheric projectile above the level of the third ventricle (11 [9.7, 11.6]), presence of any amount of blood in the ambient cistern (9[8.2, 10]), presence of any amount of blood in the lateral ventricles (9 [7.9, 9.8]), cerebellar involvement (9 [7.9, 9.5]), any evidence of ventricular effacement (4 [3.4, 4.6]), midline shift (MLS) >0 mm (4 [3.4, 4.4]), perforating injury (3 [2.4, 3.2]), and presence of an intracerebral hematoma (ICH) >20 mm in the largest diameter (2 [1.4, 1.9]). The UChicago PBI Imaging score showed a strong performance, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.86 (95% CI: [0.77, 0.96]) on a test set of 56 patients who were not included in model training. This indicates better prediction accuracy compared to both the Rotterdam score (AUC 0.8, 95% CI: [0.68, 0.96]) and the Marshall score (AUC 0.66, 95% CI: [0.52, 0.81]). Our model performed particularly well for patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score between 5 and 9. In this range, our model's performance (AUC 0.86) remained stable, while the Rotterdam and Marshall Scores showed notably lower predictive accuracy, with AUCs of 0.61 and 0.52, respectively. A dedicated evaluation of GSWH HCT reveals an association between disease burden, as quantified by unique features not native to blunt TBI imaging models, and mortality. Specifically, transhemispheric injury below the level of the third ventricle along with blood-casting bilateral ventricles and brainstem involvement was highly associated with mortality. The model is optimized for intermediate GCS scores where greater prognostic uncertainty exists. This study parallels efforts to refine TBI classification, underscoring the necessity for precise imaging-based classification in PBI to identify imaging biomarkers and ultimately enhance prognostication and targeted treatment.

  PublisherDOI

• Trends of palliative care utilization for nontraumatic intracerebral hemorrhage: Analysis of the national inpatient sample

  Journal of Clinical Neuroscience · 2025-10-12

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pretest Probability in Determining Brain Death via Brain Blood Flow Studies

  The Linacre Quarterly · 2025-11-12

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Between intention and side effect: evaluation of consciousness diminution under the doctrine of double effect

  Journal of Medical Ethics · 2025-11-27 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Early gastrostomy is associated with more efficient healthcare resource utilization in nontraumatic intracerebral hemorrhage patients

  Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases · 2025-12-23

  articleOpen access

  PURPOSE: We investigated the trends and outcomes of early gastrostomy tube placement in patients with nontraumatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). METHODS: We analyzed the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2002 to 2022 for adult hospitalized ICH patients who underwent gastrostomy. Variables included age, sex, race, income, hospital location and region, comorbidities, ICH severity indicators (coma, cerebral edema, brain compression, hydrocephalus), neurosurgical procedures, in-hospital complications (deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), acute kidney injury, aspiration pneumonia), and in-hospital outcomes (length of stay, cost, medical complications, and discharge disposition). Early gastrostomy (EG) was defined as below the 25th percentile of median time interval from admission to gastrostomy (< 7 days). Trends were assessed using linear regression of log-transformed yearly proportions. Propensity-score matching (PSM) was applied to balance comorbidities and severity between EG and nEG groups. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze in-hospital outcomes. Subgroups analyses were conducted for medically and surgically managed ICHs. RESULTS: Of 36776 ICH patients who received gastrostomy, 9484 (26%) underwent EG. The rate of EG increased significantly from 23.6% in 2002 to 29.5% in 2022 (β:0.004, p = 0.002). The increase was consistent across sex, ages ≥60 years, and racial groups, greater among Asians (β:0.007, p = 0.008) and patients aged ≥80 years (β:0.006, p = 0.002). Regional analyses showed the fastest growth in the Northeast (β:0.010, p < 0.001). However, overall median time to gastrostomy did not significantly change during the study period (β:0.013, p = 0.495). EG placement occurred more frequently in older patients IQR (71 [59-81] vs. 66 [55-76]), women (47.7% vs. 44.3%), and Whites (57.6% vs. 50.6%). EG was associated with lower rate of in-hospital complications, including DVT/PE (6.6% vs. 11.4%), acute kidney injury (22.6% vs. 28.3%), and aspiration pneumonia (21.4% vs. 28.8%), p < 0.001 for all. After 1:1 PSM, EG was independently associated with decreased odds of greater length of hospitalization (OR:0.388, 95%CI: 0.357-0.421, p < 0.001) and reduced hospitalization costs (OR:0.583, 95%CI:0.538-0.631, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: EG placement among ICH patients has increased over the past two decades. Notable variability in these trends exists across age, racial groups, and geographical regions. Consistent with this trend, EG is associated with lower in-hospital complications, and more efficient healthcare resource utilization.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Response to Commentaries on “Defining Death: towards a Biological and Ethical Synthesis”

  The American Journal of Bioethics · 2025-10-18

  letterOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Necessity of Brain Blood Flow Testing in Thoracoabdominal Normothermic Regional Perfusion

  Transplantation · 2025-06-24 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Association between prehospital tranexamic acid and cerebral edema in patients with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury

  The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care · 2025-02-10 · 1 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) contributes to substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been shown to reduce mortality in patients with traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) when given within 2 hours of injury. Although TXA is an antifibrinolytic, most studies have observed no difference in ICH progression; recent studies suggest that TXA may reduce cerebral edema in TBI. Our objective was to determine if prehospital TXA administered within 2 hours of injury is associated with surrogates of cerebral edema in patients with moderate or severe TBI. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of a multinational prehospital trial of TXA administered within 2 hours of injury in patients with moderate or severe TBI. Patients with prehospital Glasgow Coma Scale score of <13 and systolic blood pressure of >90 mm Hg were randomized to placebo, 2-g TXA bolus, or 1-g TXA bolus followed by 1 g 8-hour TXA infusion. Patients who received an intracranial pressure (ICP) monitor were selected for analysis. Baseline demographic, injury severity, and infusion characteristics were compared between TXA dosing cohorts. Proportion of hours spent with ICP of >20 mm Hg, cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) of <60 mm Hg, and need for craniectomy were compared between groups. RESULTS: A total of 108 patients with ICP monitors made up the study population (placebo, n = 31; 1 g + 1 g, n = 38; 2-g bolus, n = 39). No differences were identified in age, sex, Abbreviated Injury Scale head, Glasgow Coma Scale, Injury Severity Score, crystalloid and blood product infused in first 24 hours, Marshall score, ICH, or mortality between the three treatment arms. No differences in proportions of hours in which ICP of >20 mm Hg or CPP of <60 mm Hg were identified between treatment arms; rate of craniectomy was also similar. CONCLUSION: No association could be identified between TXA treatment and ICP elevation, CPP depression, or need for craniectomy. These results question TXA's potential impact on cerebral edema. Further study is needed to confirm this finding based on the exploratory nature and limited number of subjects in this study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic/Care Management; Level IV.

  PublisherDOI

• Palliative General Anesthesia at Terminal Extubation: “Go Gentle into that Good Night”

  Neurocritical Care · 2025-03-03 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Lainie Friedman Ross

  University of Rochester

  51 shared

• David M. Greer

  University School

  50 shared

• James L. Bernat

  Dartmouth College

  49 shared

• Arthur L. Caplan

  New York University

  49 shared

• Adam Omelianchuk

  Baylor College of Medicine

  49 shared

• David Magnus

  Stanford Medicine

  49 shared

• Thaddeus Mason Pope

  49 shared

• Ariane Lewis

  New York University

  49 shared

Labs

• Christos Lazaridis LabPI

Education

• M.D.

  University of Chicago

• B.S.

  University of Chicago

Awards & honors

• 2011 European Diploma in Intensive Care, European Society of…