Department of Surgery headlines

2011 Rosengarten Prize awarded to Dr Vlad Bolshinsky

Dr Vlad Bolshinsky is a surgical registrar in the Department of General Surgery at the Alfred Hospital. He won the 2011 D.S. Rosengarten Surgical Trainee Research Prize for his presentation on 3 December, on "Excisional Biopsy of Cutaneous Melanoma - what we leave behind". Pictured is Dr Bolshinsky receiving the award from Mrs Candice Rosengarten, David Rosengarten's widow. For more detail see 2011 D.S. Rosengarten Prize symposium abstracts.

2011 Robert Power Prize in Surgery awarded to Jane Doan

Ms Jane Doan, pictured, has completed her MBBS third year, based at the Alfred Hospital, and on November 26 was awarded the 2011 Robert Power Prize in Surgery. Dr Leanda Griffin in the Directorate of Undergraduate Medical Education together with Mr Simon Grodski, Department of Surgery, coordinated the examination and award.

NTRI launch

The National Trauma Research Institute (NTRI) is based at The Alfred Hospital, provider of Australia's largest trauma service and a world-leading trauma centre, and in conjunction with Monash University undertakes research into the care of those immediately affected by trauma. The NTRI held an event to announce the new strategic direction of the Institute on 18 November 2011 at The Royal Australian College of Surgeons in Melbourne. Professor Russell Gruen, Director of the NTRI, said that the NTRI's research worked towards the development of more effective treatments, higher quality care, and better trauma systems. See NTRI website for detail.

Surgery’s contribution to Bionic Eye project

Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld heads up the surgical component of Monash's Bionic Eye project. Using standard neurosurgery techniques, a small area of the skull will be temporarily cut away in surgery. A sterile, biologically inert chip will be placed directly on the surface of the visual cortex of the brain. The small area of the skull will then be replaced and eventually heal, providing a natural barrier to protect against infection. For more detail see http://www.monash.edu.au/bioniceye/

Victorian Adult Burns Service (VABS)

Dr Heather Cleland, pictured, heads the VABS at the Alfred, which provides the statewide service for all adult severely burn-injured patients in Victoria. The VABS provides clinical leadership in all aspects of adult burn care. Clinical, epidemiological and basic science research designed to improve multidisciplinary care for burns patients underpins clinical excellence, and informs prevention and education programs. VABS also provides education and training for rural and regional clinicians involved in caring for burn-injured patients, and collaborates with community and industry groups on burn awareness campaigns and to provide first aid education and training. For further information see VABS update 2011.

Successful Monash University Surgical Interest Workshop

Professor Frank Rosenfeldt together with Ms Hannah Tan, Ms Sarah Tan and Mrs Samantha Dix organised the 3rd annual workshop for the Surgical Interest Group in August 2011, which 24 students attended. Skills taught were suturing, knot tying, laparoscopic skills, scrubbing, gowning and gloving. With an increasingly crowded curriculum these extra-curricular activities play an important role in medical education.

2011 Queens Birthday Honours

Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld, Head of the Department of Surgery within the CCS, and Professor Suzanne Crowe, Department of Medicine, have been appointed Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours. Professor Rosenfeld's AM is for "service to medicine tbrough clinical leadership and academic roles, particularly in the field of neurosurgery as a researcher and author, and to professional associations." Professor Crowe's AM is for "service to medical research in the area of HIV/AIDS medicine and infectious diseases as an academic, clinician and researcher, and to professional associations".

Surgeons stitch up stab wounds

Professor Russell Gruen, Director, NTRI, at the Alfred, criticised Victoria's growing knife culture, saying stabbings not only often resulted in death, but were among the trickiest injuries surgeons had to deal with. "Knife victims sustain significant blood loss and surgeons have to repair blood vessels quickly." Serious knife injuries being treated at The Alfred have doubled since 2001. For further information see 2 April 2011 The Age article. Photo: Craig Abraham

Complementary medicine affects wellbeing of surgery patients

Dr Lesley Braun, a senior research fellow in the Department of Surgery at the Alfred, and Professor Marc Cohen (RMIT) co-authored a study looking at medications taken by heart surgery patients prior to their operation. They found that half of the patients took complementary medicines, including fishoil and glucosamine which are blood thinners, in the two weeks prior to surgery. Half of those didn't tell their surgeon, potentially endangering themselves because of an increased risk of bleeding. For further information see 14 March 2011 SMH article.

Data from colorectal surgery patients helps build big picture

The surgeons of the Cabrini Monash University Department of Surgery have earned a national reputation for advanced clinical management of bowel disease. Led by Associate Professor Paul McMurrick, they are involved in surgical practice, multicentre collaborative research, including three major NHMRC studies, development of a collaborative colorectal cancer database and postgraduate teaching. The Department’s treatment and research focus is on diseases of the bowel including bowel cancer. Cabrini Health treats more colorectal and prostate cancer cases than any other hospital in Melbourne. The Cabrini Colorectal Registry will capture the case data and provide vital information for future bowel cancer research and patient treatment in Australia and New Zealand. For full text of article see March 2011 Cabrini Connections, pp.4-5. Photo: Cabrini Health. Paul McMurrick, left, operating.

Potential for brain to heal itself

Associate Professor Cristina Morganti-Kossmann, of the National Trauma Research Institute at at the Alfred,Morganti-Kossmann's laboratory has embarked on a three-year study in mice, which will look for signs of brain healing linked to erythropoietin (EPO) as well as another drug known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Her lab aims to find whether both drugs in combination have more effect than each alone, while also describing the mechanism for this brain healing. For further information see 14 March 2011 SMH article.

Testing for bowel cancer

Emeritus Professor Adrian Polglase, a colorectal surgeon in the Department of Surgery at the Alfred, is a public advocate for faecal occult blood (FOB) testing for bowel cancer, the most common cancer affecting Australians, who have the highest incidence of bowel cancer in the world. He is Founder and Patron of the Let's Beat Bowel Cancer campaign. For further information see Let's Beat Bowel Cancer website.

Keeping donor hearts viable

Professor Frank Rosenfeldt has been researching a technique to keep donor hearts more viable. "[Transplant hearts] suffer a big whack ... being cooled, carried around for six hours and being sewn back in." He has developed a prototype perfusion box to store the heart and feed it a patented mix of oxygenated nutrients, which has had very promising results in large animal hearts, keeping them viable for up to three times longer. See The Age article 4 Jan 2011, and CCS article.