Erik Kraenzler MD

Erik Kraenzler, MD, is the Operating Room Director in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and Cardiothoracic Anesthesia. He is board-certified in anesthesiology, critical care medicine and perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. He specializes in cardiothoracic anesthesiology, intraoperative echocardiography and resident education. He was also recently appointed as the Assistant Medical Director for Clinical Supply Chair Management.

Dr. Kraenzler received his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where he completed his internship in general surgery. He took his residency in anesthesiology at the Loyola University Medical Center in Illinois prior to receiving fellowships in cardiothoracic anesthesia and advanced echocardiography from Cleveland Clinic.

He was appointed to the Cleveland Clinic in 1988 as a staff anesthesiologist in the Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia. He was the Head of the Section of General Thoracic Anesthesiology in the Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia, Anesthesiology Institute; the Assistant Director of Residency Education in the Anesthesiology Institute; Director of the Fellowship Program in the Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia; and a Staff Anesthesiologist in the Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia, Anesthesiology Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Kraenzler’s contributions to cardiothoracic anesthesia include a patent of a Bronchial Blocker Endotracheal Apparatus for one lung ventilation and clinical research that has focused on interventions during cardiopulmonary bypass, lung ventilation, and coronary artery surgery. He has been invited to lecture on his specialty interests at medical symposia and conferences in Hungary and Canada, in addition to invitations to lecture locally and nationally.

He has published articles and abstracts on his specialty interests, clinical experience and research in leading medical journals including Anesthesiology, Journal of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, and Journal of Clinical Monitoring. In addition, he is co-author of a two book chapters related to cardiothoracic anesthesia in medical textbooks on anesthesia and thoracoscopic surgery.

Dr. Kraenzler is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Society of Echocardiography, the International Anesthesia Research Society, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, the Society for Education in Anesthesia and the Ohio State Medical Association