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Edith Tzeng, MD

  • Chief of Vascular Surgery, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
  • Professor, Surgery

    Education & Training

  • Medical School – University of Chicago – MD
  • Residency – University of Pittsburgh – Surgery
  • Post-Doctoral – University of Pittsburgh – Vascular biology/gene therapy
  • Fellowship – University of Pittsburgh – Vascular Surgery
Research Grants

NIH Grants:  T32

Research Summary

She has a strong focus on translational studies of vascular healing and wound healing. The effect of small molecules such as carbon monoxide and nitric oxide on the prevention of intimal hyperplasia is an active area of research with an attempt to understand the mechanisms by which these molecules achieve their benefit in the vasculature. Related to vascular healing is cutaneous wound healing. The beneficial effects of CO and NO have also been shown in cutaneous wound healing and efforts are ongoing to better evaluate these effects. The ultimate goal of her research is to bring these agents to clinical application.

Representative Publications
  1. Pocivavsek L, Ye SH, Pugar J, Tzeng E, Cerda E, Velankar S, Wagner WR. Active wrinkles to drive self-cleaning: A strategy for anti-thrombotic surfaces for vascular grafts. Biomaterials. 2018 Nov 5;192:226-234. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.11.005. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30458358.
  2. Mohapatra A, Liang NL, Chaer RA, Tzeng E. Persistently low inferior vena cava filter retrieval rates in a population-based cohort. J Vasc Surg Venous Lymphat Disord. 2018 Nov 12. pii: S2213-333X(18)30396-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jvsv.2018.08.006. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30442582.
  3. Sridharan ND, Liang N, Robinson D, Avgerinos E, Tzeng E, Makaroun MS, ChaerRA, Eslami MH. Implementation of drug-eluting stents for the treatment of  femoropopliteal disease provides significant cost-to-system savings in a single-state outpatient simulation. J Vasc Surg. 2018 Nov;68(5):1465-1472. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2018.02.040. Epub 2018 May 18. PubMed PMID: 29779962.
  4. Liang NL, Reitz KM, Makaroun MS, Malas MB, Tzeng E. Comparable perioperative mortality outcomes in younger patients undergoing elective open and endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. J Vasc Surg. 2018 May;67(5):1404-1409.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2017.08.057. Epub 2017 Oct 31. PubMed PMID: 29097041; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5916017.
  5. Xu J, Cui X, Li J, Koutakis P, Pipinos I, Tzeng E, Chen A, Sachdev U. Chloroquine improves the response to ischemic muscle injury and increases HMGB1 after arterial ligation. J Vasc Surg. 2018 Mar;67(3):910-921. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2017.01.021. Epub 2017 Mar 1. PubMed PMID: 28259568; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5581296.
  6. Tzeng E. My Continuing Evolution as a Surgeon-Scientist: A Decade after the Jacobson Promising Investigator Award. J Am Coll Surg. 2017 Jan;224(1):75-78. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2016.09.012. Epub 2016 Oct 8. PubMed PMID: 27725220; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5183459.
  7. Tillman BW, Kelly J, Richards TD, Chen AF, Donnenberg AD, Donnenberg VS, Tzeng E. A depleting antibody toward sca-1 mitigates a surge of CD34(+)/c-kit(+) progenitors and reduces vascular restenosis in a murine vascular injury model. J Vasc Surg. 2016 Oct;64(4):1084-92. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2015.05.002. PubMed PMID: 27666446.
  8. Domenick Sridharan N, Chaer RA, Thirumala PD, Balzer J, Long B, Tzeng E, Makaroun MS, Avgerinos ED. Somatosensory Evoked Potentials and Electroencephalography during Carotid Endarterectomy Predict Late Stroke but not Death. Ann Vasc Surg. 2017 Jan;38:105-112. doi: 10.1016/j.avsg.2016.07.064. Epub 2016 Aug 10. PubMed PMID: 27521822; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5164853.
  9. Xu J, Benabou K, Cui X, Madia M, Tzeng E, Billiar T, Watkins S, Sachdev U. TLR4 Deters Perfusion Recovery and Upregulates Toll-like Receptor 2 (TLR2) in Ischemic Skeletal Muscle and Endothelial Cells. Mol Med. 2015 Jul 14;21:605-15. doi: 10.2119/molmed.2014.00260. PubMed PMID: 26181630; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4656200.
  10. Madigan MC, McEnaney RM, Shukla AJ, Hong G, Kelley EE, Tarpey MM, Gladwin M, Zuckerbraun BS, Tzeng E. Xanthine Oxidoreductase Function Contributes to Normal Wound Healing. Mol Med. 2015 Apr 14;21:313-22. doi: 10.2119/molmed.2014.00191. PubMed PMID: 25879627; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4503647.