The newly funded, “Collaborative Centre for Innovative Pleural Research”, led by Professor Y C Gary Lee based at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Institute for Respiratory Health and The University of Western Australia has been awarded $AUD1.2 million by the WA Future Health Research & Innovation Fund.
Pleural effusion (an abnormal buildup of fluid within the chest) affects 23 million people annually worldwide. It can cause disabling breathlessness and can arise from many sources.
Professor Lee and his team are world leaders in the management of cancer-related pleural effusions (MPE) and have transformed care using a novel indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) that allows cancer patients to drain fluid at home.
Their previous multinational, randomised trials confirmed that IPC improves quality-of-life and significantly reduces hospitalisation and invasive procedures. MPE accounts for 15% of all pleural effusions. Non-malignant effusions present a more significant but neglected healthcare burden.
“We are in the best position to apply our expertise and expand the use of IPC (and other novel options) to non-malignant pleural effusions (from heart, liver and kidney failures) and benefit 5-fold more patients by reducing draining procedures and hospitalizations, bringing major healthcare savings.”
Professor Gary Lee, Institute for Respiratory Health
This Collaborative Centre will:
- Extend our reach and engage clinicians in multiple specialties in WA. We will share our world-leading expertise and clinical trial experiences in pleural effusion/IPC to develop novel proof-of-concept clinical studies in non-malignant effusions; and
- Consolidate individual units that have participated in our MPE trials into a cohesive force for future high-quality trials in MPE and to provide definitive trials for promising, world-first concepts for non-malignant effusions that arise from 1.
Other Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital researchers involved include Professor Brendan McQuillan (Cardiology), Professor Gary Jeffrey (Hepatology), and Professor Wai Lim (Renal). Professor Robert Newton (ECU) and international collaborators Professor David Feller-Kopman (Dartmouth) and Professor Nick Maskell (University of Bristol) will share their expertise and support for the Centre.
From left: Nick Maskell, David Feller-Kopman, Robert Newton, Brendan McQuillan, Gary Jeffrey and Wai Lim.
Partners for this Centre include:
- Institute for Respiratory Health
- The University of Western Australia
- Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Centre
- Bristol Academic Respiratory Unit
- Edith Cowan University
We congratulate Professor Lee and his team for this monumental achievement!