Prof Redondo, Professor of Veterinary Anaesthesiology at CEU UCH, collected the award at the conference of the British Veterinary Association this weekend in Birmingham, as the author of the paper with the greatest potential to change veterinary clinical practice.
This international study, the largest of its kind in canine anaesthesiology, has enabled risk factors to be detected and clinical recommendations to be made to reduce the risk of anaesthetic mortality.
Every year, Veterinary Record, one of the world’s most prestigious journals in veterinary medicine, recognizes a single published article with the greatest potential to change veterinary clinical practice with the “VetRecord Impact Award”. This year the award went to the study entitled “Anaesthetic mortality in dogs: A worldwide analysis and risk assessment”, for which the Professor of Veterinary Anaesthesiology at CEU UCH, José Ignacio Redondo García, was the primary author. The award was presented to him this weekend at the British Veterinary Association (BVA) conference in Birmingham, UK. “This is undoubtedly the greatest honour of my research career,” he said.
“For the study that won the award, we analysed more than 55,000 anaesthetic procedures in dogs, undertaken in more than 400 clinics and hospitals, across 27 countries and 4 continents. This was possible thanks to the collaboration of hundreds of veterinarians who contributed their cases,” said Prof Redondo. “This study is part of the COMPLRED project, the largest international study on anaesthetic mortality in cats and dogs, the third phase of which was already recognized last year, by receiving an editorial and appearing on the cover of the printed issue of Veterinary Record”.
In this award-winning research, Professor Redondo and his team analysed more than 55,000 anaesthetic procedures in dogs, undertaken in more than 400 clinics and hospitals in 27 countries.
Improving the safety of anaesthesia
The results of the study recognized with the VetRecord Impact Award 2025 have shown that anaesthetic mortality in dogs is still very high (0.69%) and that most deaths occur post-operatively. Clear risk factors such as age, obesity, global animal health status (ASA scores), unscheduled procedures, and emergencies have also been identified. These data, based on clinical evidence, allow recommendations to reduce the risks of anaesthetic mortality, such as the use of locoregional techniques, improvements in analgesia and the use of individualized care protocols.
In the award-winning study, Prof José Ignacio Redondo, Professor of Veterinary Anesthesiology at CEU UCH, worked with a team of other lecturers and researchers: Dr Fernando Martínez-Taboada, from the University of Sydney; Pablo Otero, from the University of Buenos Aires; Zoe Hernández Magaña, lecturer in Veterinary Medicine at CEU UCH; Dr Luis Doménech Ballester, from the Department of Physical, Mathematical and Computer Sciences at CEU UCH; and the veterinarian Jaime Viscasillas, from Anicura Valencia.
Prof José Ignacio Redondo received the VetRecord Impact Award 2025 from the editors of Veterinary Record, Suzanne Jarvis, Valentina Busin and Emma Boxer.
You can find the full text of the award-winning article here: https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/vetr.3604
