Staff and patients gather to celebrate RPA service's life-changing work.
 

Clinicians, researchers, nurses and patients gathered recently to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital’s Australian National Liver Transplantation Unit and the 20^th anniversary of the RPA Transplant Institute (RPATI).

More than 300 people attended the event, held at the Charles Perkins Centre Auditorium, which included presentations by clinicians, researchers and patients.

Professor Simone Strasser, RPA Head of Department and Specialist Gastroenterology/Hepatology and Liver Transplantation, said being part of “the world’s best liver transplant unit” meant a great deal to everyone involved.

“We're very, very proud to be celebrating our 40th anniversary,” Professor Strasser said.

“This is complex, intellectually challenging medicine that we love to be engaged in. We work in a true team environment, which is wonderful.

“We develop long-term relationships, not just with our colleagues but with our families that are here with us today. I feel many of you are friends and I know your stories intimately.”

Liver transplant recipient Brooke Hollis-Haddad was one of several patients who spoke eloquently about how the transplant unit’s work changed their lives. She told how she had met her husband, welcomed two sons and completed a master’s degree since her transplant.

“It was [the team’s] collective care, advocacy, expertise and belief in my future that opened doors I once thought were out of reach,” Brooke said.

“[The transplant] did more than save my life. It gave me the opportunity to truly live it.”

Also speaking eloquently on her own experiences of being a transplant recipient was the event’s MC, Dr Tricia Kavanagh, who told of her continuing ties to and her enduring gratitude for the transplant unit.

Professor Steve Chadban, Head of Renal Medicine at RPA, told the gathering how RPA was contributing to Australian research making a significant impact on the world.

“In Australia, we do less than 1% of the world's transplant operations – kidney and liver – but we contribute to science around the world and much greater rate than that,” he said.

 “It's much of this that has driven the improvement in outcomes for kidney transplant procedures.” 

Professor Chadban spoke about his own award-winning BEST-Fluids clinical trial that showed the use of a fluid that more closely resembled the chemical make-up of blood could cut the need for post-transplant dialysis.

Clinical Associate Professor Michael Crawford, Senior Staff Specialist and Head of Department of RPA Transplant Services, also spoke about the importance of the RPA Transplant Institute and its key role in securing funding to support research into areas such as organ perfusion and liver regeneration. He highlighted work led by Professor Carlo Pulitano in machine perfusion designed to increase the number of livers viable for transplant.

“Our goal is to close the gap between supply and demand by trying to address the 50% [of donor livers] that we currently decline,” Dr Crawford said. 

He said a long-term normothermic machine perfusion device now being used in the lab had kept one liver alive for seven weeks. The machine will soon be used in a study for two to three days in clinical practice to see if it can add to the number of livers that can be safely transplanted.

Dr Michael Stormon, a Staff Specialist Gastroenterologist at Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, spoke about the role played by The Children’s Hospital, Westmead, as the paediatric arm of the Australian National Liver Transplant Unit and the country’s largest centre for children needing liver transplants.

Clinicians, researchers and patients all paid tribute to the donors and their families for the gift of organ donation, so often made at an extraordinarily difficult time.

After the formal part of the event, all the participants gathered for a lunch to celebrate the anniversary and share their experiences of the two organisations’ work.