Congratulations to the RMH Anaesthetics Registrar and University of Melbourne Honorary Senior Research Fellow Dr Luke Perry, who, with research colleagues, received a 2023 Vanguard Grant from the National Heart Foundation.
The $70,000 grant will go towards The PUMA Pilot – a randomised controlled trial involving a multidisciplinary research team of cardiac surgeons, anaesthetists, and intensive care specialists based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Department of Critical Care at the University of Melbourne.
The PUMA Pilot will establish the foundations for a world-first, international, and definitive multicentre trial of pulmonary artery catheter avoidance in low risk cardiac surgery.
“While these monitoring devices can be used to make precise, targeted treatment decisions in the critical hours after open heart surgery, our preliminary studies suggest they may also over complicate care, lead to unnecessary treatments, and prolong the length of stay in the ICU after surgery” said Dr Perry.
“A major strength of the PUMA Pilot is our involvement of consumers from the ground up. Consumer co-design has ensured that the PUMA Pilot – which is all about highlighting an area of potentially low value care – is both acceptable and considered important by real patients.”
The RMH congratulates Luke and his colleagues on the Vanguard Grant.
Watch Luke explain the PUMA Pilot:
Anaesthetics Registrar Dr Luke Perry talks through the PUMA Pilot trial, looking into the use of pulmonary artery catheters in cardiac surgery. This trial received a 2023 Vanguard Grant from the Heart Foundation.
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