CASE STUDY World-first clinical trial improves patient outcomes for kidney transplants
Dr Michael Collins
Royal Adelaide Hospital
Filmed August 2023
A world-first clinical trial conducted at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) and at hospitals across Australia and New Zealand has identified the best fluid treatment to reduce the risk of patients requiring dialysis after a kidney transplant.
Around one in three people who receive a kidney transplant suffer delayed graft function, which means the transplant doesn’t work immediately and they require dialysis.
The lead-author of the study, was Royal Adelaide Hospital Nephrologist and University of Adelaide researcher, Dr Michael Collins.
During the four-year study, fluids were trialled in 808 patients with kidney failure, who received a kidney transplant from a deceased organ donor at the RAH and 15 other hospitals in Australia and New Zealand.
Researchers at the University of Adelaide and University of Sydney, found 30 per cent of participants who received Plasma-Lyte 148 needed dialysis after transplant, compared with 40 per cent of participants who received saline.
The results of the study are now being used to improve the health of kidney transplant patients in Australia and New Zealand and it is likely that practice will change at transplant units around the world.
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Professor Ramon Shaban
PROFESSOR RAMON SHABAN, CLINICAL CHAIR
COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL AND INFECTION PREVENTION
WESTERN HEALTH PRECINCT, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA -
Seeking discoveries in earlier bowel cancer detection
Associate Professor Susan Woods is a cancer research focused on eradicating bowel cancer through earlier detection and investigating the DNA related from colorectal cancer cells. She leads the Gut Cancer Research Group at the University of Adelaide and SAHMRI and with her team is researching new treatments for advanced disease.
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Integrated Oral Health Care
Dr Ajesh George is a Professor of Interprofessional Oral Health in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University (WSU) and Honorary Professor in the School of Dentistry at The University of Sydney. He is a dentist with extensive experience in integrated oral health care and is a renowned expert globally in providing oral health training to non-dental professionals and translating oral health guidelines into their practice. Dr George is also the Director and Co-founder of the “Australian Centre for Integration of Oral Health” (ACIOH) which is a leading national research centre led by WSU in collaboration with various partners including universities, health services and professional organisations.
