A procedure that reduces the need for dialysis for kidney transplant recipients wins the Clinical Trial of the Year award at the Sydney Innovation and Research Symposium.

Groundbreaking research by Royal Prince Alfred Hospital kidney specialist Professor Steve Chadban has been named Clinical Trial of the Year at our District’s Sydney Innovation and Research Symposium. 

The BEST-Fluids trial, which published its results in The Lancet in June last year, examined whether replacing saline with a new fluid in kidney transplant procedures could lessen recipients’ need for dialysis in the weeks after surgery. 

Professor Chadban led the team that enrolled 808 deceased donor kidney transplant patients in the study and compared use of a new “balanced” low-chloride fluid with use of the usual saline solution. 

“We predicted that rather than seeing 40 per cent of our patients needing dialysis after transplant, we predicted there would be a 25 per cent reduction,” he said. 

“When the data was all analysed a year after the study was completed, it showed exactly that.”  

About one in three kidneys do not work immediately after transplant, a condition known as delayed graft function, which means those patients need to undergo dialysis until the kidney “switches on”.   

The balanced fluid used in the trial more closely resembles the chemical make-up of blood than saline solution.  

Professor Chadban said an editorial in The Lancet stated the trial would change global practice. 

“The editorial ... noted that if we were then to apply this across the world - for every 10 people we would treat, we would save one person having to have dialysis after transplant,” he said. 

“So, for a $20 intervention, we could see amazing personal, clinical and ultimately economic benefits from the trial.”  

Also honoured in the District’s Excellence in Clinical Trial Awards at the symposium was Ellen Yeo, Clinical Nurse Consultant at RPA’s Renal Medicine and Kidney Transplantation Unit, who won the Excellence in Clinical Trial Support Award. 

Ellen initiated the Advancing Career and Education (ACE) Pathway Orientation and Education Programme for Clinical Trial Nurses and Midwives, which enhanced the training and integration of new nurses into clinical trial roles at RPA, with a focus on participant-centred care. 

Judges said her advocacy for ongoing education and professional development in clinical trials nursing, aiming to improve retention and career progression within the field, is truly remarkable. 

Also presented on the day were the Sydney Research Awards and Scholarships. The winners of those awards were:  

• Annual Health Research Infrastructure Award: Dr Ibrahim Tohidi-Esfahani​ Staff Specialist Haematologist​ at Concord Hospital 

• Clinician Researcher Scholarship: Dr Anita Niu, Clinical Researcher,  Translational Centre for Organ Assessment,​ Repair and Optimisation at RPA Hospital;  

• Research Supervisor Award: Professor Nick Glozier, ​Senior Staff Specialist (Psychologist) at Sydney Local Health District 

• Young Researcher Award: Dr Anna Lene Seidler​, Senior Research Fellow​ at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, Sydney Local Health District.