Dr Denny Levett


Denny Levett

Positions:

  • Consultant in Critical Care and Perioperative Medicine, University Hospital Southampton
  • Honorary Lecturer in Physiology, UCL

Denny Levett was one of the founding members of the Centre for Altitude Space and Extreme Environment Medicine (CASE) and has clinical and research experience in extreme physiology both at altitude and underwater.

Denny was one of the Research Leaders for the Caudwell Xtreme Everest expedition in 2007, she was a member of the climbing team and also the Expedition Medical Officer. In 2013 on Xtreme Everest 2, she managed the laboratory team in Kathmandu (with three children under four in tow) recruiting the Sherpas for the highlander study and leading the exercise research. Her PhD thesis focused on Exercise performance at altitude. Her clinical research interest involves the role of exercise in risk stratification prior to major surgery and she Chairs the National Perioperative Exercise Testing and Training Society.

She has spent more than 9 months as a marine biology survey diver and diving doctor on marine biology expeditions in Southern Tanzania, Madagascar, Fiji and the Hallaniyat Islands and has managed diving injuries in remote locations. She has also worked as a hyperbaric fellow at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. She has an interest in the use of hyperbaric oxygen in necrotising fasciitis and has authored the Cochrane Review of this intervention. She is the Deputy editor of the Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Section of the Journal of Extreme Environment Medicine and Physiology.


Publications - Papers

  • DZH Levett, M Bennett, I Millar. Adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen for necrotizing fasciitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Jan 15;1:CD007937. PubMed PMID:25879088.
  • Levett DZ, Viganò A, Capitanio D, Vasso M, De Palma S, Moriggi M, Martin DS, Murray AJ, Cerretelli P, Grocott MP, Gelfi C. Muscle proteomics in the course of the Caudwell Xtreme Everest Expedition to Mt Everest. Proteomics. 2015 Jan;15(1):160-71
  • Hennis PJ, O'Doherty AF, Levett DZ, Grocott MP, Montgomery HM. Genetic Factors Associated with Performance in Hypoxia. Sports Med. 2015 May;45(5):745-61.
  • Holloway CJ, Murray AJ, Mitchell K, Martin DS Levett DZ, Montgomery HE, Grocott MPW, Clarke K. Oral Coenzyme Q10 Supplementation Does Not Prevent Cardia Alterations During a High Altitude Trek to Everest Base Camp. HAMB 2014; Mar 24 [
  • Siervo M, Riley HL, O Fernandez BO, Leckstrom CA, Martin DS, Mitchell K, Levett DZH, Montgomery HE, Mythen MG, Grocott MPW, Feelisch M. Effects of prolonged exposure to hypobaric hypoxia on oxidative stress, inflammation and gluco-insular regulation: The not-so-sweet price for good regulation. Plos-one 2014; Apr 14:9(4):e94915
  • Martin DS, Gilbert-Kawai ET, Meale PM, Fernandez BO, Cobb A, Khosravi M, Mitchell K, Grocott MP, Levett DZ, Mythen MG, Feelisch M; Design and conduct of 'Xtreme Alps': A double-blind, randomised controlled study of the effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on acclimatisation to high altitude. Contemp Clin Trials. 2013 Nov; 36(2):450-9.
  • Daniel S. Martin, Denny ZH Levett, Rick Bezemer, Hugh E Montgomery, Mike PW Grocott and the Caudwell Xtreme Everest Research Group. The Use of Skeletal Muscle Near Infrared Spectroscopy and a Vascular Occlusion Test at High Altitude. High Altitude Medicine and Biology 2013; Sep;14(3):256-62
  • Gavlak JC, Stocks J, Laverty A, Fettes E, Bucks R, Sonnappa S, Cooper J,
    Grocott MP, Levett DZ, Martin DS, Imray CH, Kirkham FJ. The Young Everest Study: preliminary report of changes in sleep and cerebral blood flow velocity duringslow ascent to altitude in unacclimatised children. Arch Dis Child. 2013 May;98(5):356-62.
  • Holloway, CJ, HE Montgomery, AJ Murray, LE Cochlin, I Codreanu, N Hopwood, AW Johnson, OJ Rider, DZ Levett, DJ Tyler, JM Francis, S Neubauer, MP Grocott, and K Clarke. 2011. Cardiac response to hypobaric hypoxia: persistent changes in cardiac mass, function, and energy metabolism after a trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp. FASEB Journal 2011; 25(2):792-796
  • Wilson, MH, ME Edsell, I Davagnanam, SP Hirani, DS Martin, DZ Levett, JS Thornton, X Golay, L Strycharczuk, SP Newman, HE Montgomery, MP Grocott, and CH Imray. 2011a. Cerebral artery dilatation maintains cerebral oxygenation at extreme altitude and in acute hypoxia-an ultrasound and MRI study. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 2011;31(10):2019-2029
  • Wilson, MH, DZ Levett, S Dhillon, K Mitchell, J Morgan, MP Grocott, and C Imray. 2011b. Stroke at high altitude diagnosed in the field using portable ultrasound. Wilderness Environ Med 2011;22(1):54-57
  • DZH Levett, DS Martin, MH Wilson, K Mitchell, S Dhillon, F Rigat, HE Montgomery, MG Mythen, MPW Grocott. Design and Conduct of Caudwell Xtreme Everest: an observational cohort study of variation in human adaptation to progressive environmental hypoxia. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2010; 10:98
  • Edwards LM, Murray AJ, Tyler DJ, Kemp GJ, Holloway CJ, Robbins PA, Neubauer S, Levett D, Montgomery HE, Grocott MP, Clarke K; Caudwell Xtreme Everest Research Group. The effect of high-altitude on human skeletal muscle energetics: P-MRS results from the Caudwell Xtreme Everest expedition. PLoS One 2010; 5(5):e10681.
  • Martin DS, Goedhart P, Vercueil A, Ince C, Levett DZ, Grocott MPW, Caudwell Xtreme Everest Research Group. Changes in sublingual microcirculatory flow index and vessel density on ascent to altitude. Experimental Physiology 2010; 95(8):880-91
  • Hooper TJ, Levett DZ, Mellor AF, Grocott MP. Resting and exercising cardiorespiratory variables and acute mountain sickness. Journal of Royal Navy Medical Service 2010; 96(1):6-12
  • Martin DS, Levett DZ, Mythen M, Grocott MP. Changes in skeletal muscle oxygenation during exercise measured by near-infrared spectroscopy on ascent to altitude. Critical Care 2009;13(Suppl 5):S7
  • Scrase E, Laverty A, Gavlak J, Sonnappa S, Levett DZH, Martin D, Grocott MPW, Stocks J. The Young Everest Study: Effects of hypoxia at high altitude on cardio-respiratory function and general well-being in healthy children. Archives of Diseases in Childhood 2009; 94(8);621-6
  • Martin D, Ince C, Goedhart P, Levett DZH, Grocott MPW. Abnormal blood flow in the sublingual microcirculation at high altitude. European Journal of Applied Physiology 2009;106(3):473-8
  • Michael PW Grocott, Denny ZH Levett, Claire Matejowsky, Mark Emberton, M G Mythen. ASA scores in the pre-operative patient: feedback to clinicians can improve data quality. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 2007;13(2):318-9


Publications - Reviews/Editorials

  • Levett DZ, Grocott MP. Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing Prehabilitation and Enhanced Recovery After Surgery. Can J Anaesth. 2015 Feb;62(2):131-42.
  • Levett DZ, Grocott MP.Anesthesiol Clin. 2015 Mar;33(1):1-16. Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing for Risk Prediction in Major Abdominal Surgery.
  • Martin DS, Gilbert-Kawai E, Levett DZH, Mitchell K, Kumar Bc R, Mythen MG, Grocott MP. Xtreme Everest 2: unlocking the secrets of the Sherpa phenotype? Extrem Physiol Med. 2013 Oct 23;2(1):30. doi: 10.1186/2046-7648-2-30
  • Grocott MPW, Levett DZH. Everest 60 years on: what next? Extreme Physiology and Medicine 2013,2:20(6 June 2013).
  • Grocott MP, Martin DS, Wilson MH, Mitchell K, Dhillon S, Mythen MG, Montgomery HE, Levett DZ. Caudwell Xtreme Everest Expedition. High Altitude Medicine and Biology 2010; 11(2)133-137
  • Martin DM, DZH Levett, MP Grocott, H Montgomery: Variation in Human Performance in the Hypoxic Mountain Environment. Experimental Physiology 2010;95(3)463-470
  • DZH Levett, I Millar. Bubble Trouble: Diving Physiology and Disease. Postgrad Medical Journal 2008;84(997):517-8

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