Department of Anesthesiology

Department of Anesthesiology- Research Division

	Linda S. Polley, MD Director, Obstetric Anesthesiology Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology Phone: 734-763-2436 Fax: 734-763-3354 Email: lpolley@umich.edu

Linda S. Polley, MD, is Director of the Division of Obstetric Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan Health System. She received her medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1991. She completed residency training in Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan Hospitals and fellowship training in Obstetric Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Polley has investigated the Minimum Local Analgesic Concentration (MLAC) of local anesthetics and adjuncts during labor. This model represents the first systemic application of dose-response pharmacodynamics to regional anesthesia. She is also interested in clinical therapies to improve uteroplacental blood flow in severe preeclampsia. Her work has been recognized with the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Resident Research Award (1996), the First Prize of the European Academy of Anesthesiology (1997), and the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) Best Paper of the Meeting Award (1999). She is an ad hoc reviewer for Anesthesiology and Anesthesia & Analgesia and Co-editor for Chestnut’s Obstetric Anesthesia: Principles and Practice 4th edition.

At the national level, Dr. Polley is the Immediate Past President of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology.  She served as a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Task Force on Obstetric Anesthesia Practice Guidelines (2007) and is a member of the SOAP ad hoc committee on ACGME Obstetric Anesthesiology fellowship accreditation.

Recent Publications:

Armstrong PA, Polley LS. Asymptomatic spinal cord neoplasm detected during induction of spinal anesthesia. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2009 Aug 21 [Epub ahead of print]

Wilkins KK, Greenfield ML, Polley LS, Mhyre JM. A survey of obstetric peranesthesia care unit standards. Anesth Analg. 2009 Jun; 108(6):1869-75. [PubMed]

Servin MN, Mhyre JM, Greenfield ML, Polley LS. An obervational cohort study of the meniscus test to detect intravascular epidural catheters in pregnant women. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2009 Jul; 18(3): 215-20. [PubMed]

Mhyre JM, Greenfield ML, Tsen LC, Polley LS. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials that evaluate strategies to avoid epidural vein cannulation during obstetric epidural catheter placement. Anesth Analg. 2009 Apr; 108(4):1232-42. [PubMed]

Polley LS. Neuraxial techniques for labor analgesia should be placed in the lateral position. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2008 Apr; 17(2):149-52. [PubMed]

Clinkscales CP, Greenfield ML, Vanarase M, Polley LS. An observational study of the relationship between lumbar epidural space depth and body mass index in Michigan parturients. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2007 Oct; 16(4):323-7. [PubMed]

Mhyre JM, Greenfield ML, Polley LS. Survey of obstetric providers' views on the anesthetic risks of maternal obesity. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2007 Oct; 16(4):316-22. [PubMed]

Polley LS and Wlody D (editors). Obstetric Anesthesia, International Anesthesiology Clinics, 2007; 45:(1).

American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Obstetric Anesthesia. Practice guidelines for obstetric anesthesia: an updated report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Obstetric Anesthesia. an updated report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Obstetric Anesthesia. Anesthesiology 2007; 106;843-63. (Dr. Polley is a member of the Task Force and is a co-author of this publication.)

Mhyre JM, Riesner MN, Polley LS, Naughton NN: A Series of Anesthesia–related Maternal Deaths in Michigan: 1985-2003. Anesthesiology 2007; 106:1096-104. [PubMed]

Hong RW, Greenfield ML, Polley LS. Nitroglycerin for uterine inversion in the absence of placental fragments. Anesth Analg. 2006 Aug; 103(2):511-2. [PubMed]

Wang LF, Tait AR, Polley LS. Demographic differences between consenters and non-consenters in an obstetric anesthesiology clinical study. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2004 Jul; 13(3):159-63. [PubMed]

Polley LS, Santos AC. Cardiac arrest following regional anesthesia with ropivacaine: here we go again! Anesthesiology 2003; 99:1253-4. [PubMed]

Polley LS, Columb MO, Naughton NN, Wagner DS, van de Ven CJM, Goralski KH. Relative analgesic potencies of levobupivacaine and ropivacaine for epidural analgesia in labor. Anesthesiology 2003; 99:1354-8. [PubMed]

Polley LS, Columb MO, Naughton NN, Wagner DS, van de Ven CJM. Effect of epidural epinephrine on the minimum local analgesic concentration (MLAC) of epidural bupivacaine in labor. Anesthesiology 2002; 96:1123-8. [PubMed]

Research Divisions