Dr Sanjay Wijayatilake

Insights & publications

Research, evidence and perspective

Boards and health-tech teams need evidence they can defend, not opinion. Behind the perspective here: 21 peer-reviewed, PubMed-indexed publications, including a Cochrane review, and a working view of what the evidence means for patients.

Perspective

AI in medicine is a governance problem, not a technology problem

Most clinical AI does not fail because the model is weak. It fails because nobody validated it in the population it was deployed on, nobody owned it when it erred, nobody could explain it to a patient, and nobody budgeted for year three. Those are governance failures, and they are preventable if boards ask the right questions before deployment rather than after the incident. See The Five Questions →

Recent writing & presentations

What I am working on now, alongside the peer-reviewed record below.

Poster · NACCS 2026

Sporadic CJD masquerading as ischaemic stroke

Co-author and presenter, with A. R. Raveendran (first author). A diagnostic trap at the boundary of neurology and critical care.

Selected publications

Five papers, chosen for what they say about how I think: the full list of 21 follows below.

Cochrane review · cited ~90×

BIS monitoring versus clinical assessment for sedation in mechanically ventilated adults in the ICU

Shetty RM, Bellini A, Wijayatilake DS, et al. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018.

Why it matters: the gold-standard discipline for asking "does this monitoring technology actually improve outcomes?", exactly the evidential lens boards should apply to clinical AI.

Most recent · 2024

Brain stem death diagnosis: a systematic review of families' experience

Shaikh M, Cade-Smith E, Mackay L, Wijayatilake DS, Kingsley M. Discover Psychology, 2024.

Why it matters: the human experience of the hardest moment in critical care, evidence that compassion and rigour belong in the same study.

Consent & ethics · 2020

Are we meeting the current standards of consent for anaesthesia? An international survey of clinical practice

Jovaisa T, Norkiene I, Karjagin J, et al., Wijayatilake D. Medical Science Monitor, 2020.

Why it matters: consent and transparency are the foundation of ethical practice, and the same questions now apply to algorithms that influence care.

Patient safety · 2018

Traumatic brain injured patients: primum non nocere

Wijayatilake DS, Nielsen DPD, Baker E, Patil V. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2018.

Why it matters: "first, do no harm" as an operating principle for adopting anything new at the bedside, technology included.

National consensus · 2015

The monitoring and management of severe traumatic brain injury in the United Kingdom: is there a consensus? A national survey

Wijayatilake DS, Talati C, Panchatsharam S. Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology, 2015.

Why it matters: building national consensus is a craft; the same methodology now underpins our Delphi work on AI in intensive care.

Full publication list

21 publications. Author name shown in bold.

  1. Brain stem death diagnosis: a systematic review of families' experience.
    Shaikh M, Cade-Smith E, Mackay L, Wijayatilake DS, Kingsley M. Discover Psychology, 2024; 4(1):73.
  2. Nipple aspirate fluid and its use for the early detection of breast cancer.
    Jiwa N, Ezzat A, Holt J, Wijayatilake DS, Takats Z, Leff DR. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 2022; 77:103625.
  3. The obstetric patient in the COVID pandemic: anaesthesia and perioperative care.
    Khan A, Patrick A, Patil V, Nnochiri A, Wijayatilake S. Current Opinion in Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2021; 33(5):361–369.
  4. Are we meeting the current standards of consent for anaesthesia? An international survey of clinical practice.
    Jovaisa T, Norkiene I, Karjagin J, Golubovska I, Gambickas L, Kalinauskaite M, Kauzonas E, Wijayatilake D. Medical Science Monitor, 2020; 26:e925905.
  5. BIS monitoring versus clinical assessment for sedation in mechanically ventilated adults in the ICU and its impact on clinical outcomes and resource utilisation.
    Shetty RM, Bellini A, Wijayatilake DS, Hamilton MA, Jain R, Karanth S, Namachivayam A. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018; 2(2):CD011240.
  6. Traumatic brain injured patients: primum non nocere.
    Wijayatilake DS, Nielsen DPD, Baker E, Patil V. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2018; 31(5):549–555.
  7. Clinical pearls part 3: anaesthetic management of abnormally invasive placentation.
    Patil V, Ratnayake G, Fastovets G, Wijayatilake DS. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2018; 31(3):280–289.
  8. Clinical 'pearls' of maternal critical care: part I.
    Patil V, Wong M, Wijayatilake DS. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2016; 29(3):304–316.
  9. Anaesthesia for neuroradiology: thrombectomy: 'one small step for man, one giant leap for anaesthesia'.
    Wijayatilake DS, Ratnayake G, Ragavan D. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2016; 29(5):568–575.
  10. Systemic complications of traumatic brain injury.
    Wijayatilake DS, Sherren PB, Jigajinni SV. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2015; 28(5):525–531.
  11. Maternal critical care: 'one small step for woman, one giant leap for womankind'.
    Patil V, Jigajinni S, Wijayatilake DS. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2015; 28(3):290–299.
  12. Traumatic brain injury: physiological targets for clinical practice in the prehospital setting and on the Neuro-ICU.
    Wijayatilake DS, Jigajinni SV, Sherren PB. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2015; 28(5):517–524.
  13. The monitoring and management of severe traumatic brain injury in the United Kingdom: is there a consensus? A national survey.
    Wijayatilake DS, Talati C, Panchatsharam S. Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology, 2015; 27(3):241–245.
  14. What's new in the management of traumatic brain injury on neuro ICU?
    Wijayatilake DS, Shepherd SJ. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2014; 27(5):459–464.
  15. Does the use of a bougie reduce the force of laryngoscopy in a difficult airway with manual in-line stabilisation? A randomised crossover simulation study.
    Hung RK, Lewinsohn A, Jovaisa T, Wijayatilake DS, Sherren PB. European Journal of Anaesthesiology, 2013; 30(9):563–566.
  16. Updates in the management of intracranial pressure in traumatic brain injury.
    Wijayatilake DS, Shepherd SJ, Sherren PB. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 2012; 25(5):540–547.
  17. The effects of bed height and time on the quality of chest compressions delivered during CPR: a randomised crossover simulation study.
    Lewinsohn A, Sherren PB, Wijayatilake DS. Emergency Medicine Journal, 2012; 29(8):660–663.
  18. Effects of bed height on the performance of chest compressions: clinical application of results.
    Sherren PB, Lewinsohn A, Wijayatilake DS. Emergency Medicine Journal, 2011; 28(2):171.
  19. Comparison of the Mapleson C system and adult and paediatric self-inflating bags for delivering guideline-consistent ventilation during simulated adult CPR.
    Sherren PB, Lewinsohn A, Jovaisa T, Wijayatilake DS. Anaesthesia, 2011; 66(7):563–567.
  20. Ultrasound-assisted epidural blood patching.
    Prasad GA, Simon G, Wijayatilake S. International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia, 2008; 17(4):376–377.
  21. Practice patterns related to block selection, nerve localisation and risk disclosure: a survey of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.
    Brull R, Wijayatilake DS, Perlas A, Chan VW, Abbas S, Liguori GA, Hargett MJ, El-Beheiry H. Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, 2008; 33(5):395–403.

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