Respiratory medicine research at Midland

Respiratory diseases, including lung cancer, are very common in Australia. Lung cancer itself is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the most common cause of cancer-related death in both men and women. With a focus on multi-disciplinary effort across a varying range of respiratory medicine and healthcare, we aim to improve patient outcomes with knowledge and capacity development.

• Collaboration with Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital and The University of Western Australia in a clinical trial which is assessing the efficacy and safety of alternative corticosteroid therapies for patients with Para pneumonic pleural effusions.
• A prospective cohort study looking at whether the levels of exhaled nitric oxide during an acute exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease can predict which patients will be at higher risk of further hospital admissions over 12 months. 
• Collaboration with Curtin University to evaluate the significance of physical activity and sedentary behaviour on the prognosis of patients with primary lung cancer who are not undergoing lung resection. 

Dr Edward Fysh, Consultant General & Respiratory Physician
Dr Francesco Piccolo, Head of Service - Respiratory and Sleep Medicine
Dr David Manners, Consultant General & Respiratory Physician
Erin Cecins, Cardiorespiratory Service Lead
Bhaumik Mevavala, ICU

St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals

Abeyweera PD, Brims FJH, Piccolo F, Lei C, Manners D. (2020) Australia-Wide Cross-Sectional Survey of General Practitioners' Knowledge And Practice Of Lung Cancer Screening. Intern Med J. 2020;10.1111/imj.14838. doi.org/10.1111/imj.14838

Brownell, P., Piccolo, F., Brims, F., Norman, R., & Manners, D. (2020). Does this lung nodule need urgent review? A discrete choice experiment of Australian general practitioners. BMC pulmonary medicine, 20(1), 24. doi.org/10.1186/s12890-020-1085-2

Chan, K. P., Badiei, A., Tan, C., Fitzgerald, D. B., Stanley, C., Fysh, E., Shrestha, R., Muruganandan, S., Read, C. A., Thomas, R., & Lee, Y. (2020). Use of indwelling pleural/peritoneal catheter in the management of malignant ascites: a retrospective study of 48 patients. Internal medicine journal, 50(6), 705–711. doi.org/10.1111/imj.14642

Fitzgerald, D.B., Waterer, G.W., Read, C.A., Fysh, E.T., Shrestha, R., Stanley, C., Muruganandan, S., Lan, N.S.H., Popowicz, N.D., Peddle-McIntyre, C.J., Rahman, N.M., Gan, S.K., Murray, K., Lee, Y.C.G. (2019) Steroid therapy and outcome of parapneumonic pleural effusions (STOPPE): Study protocol for a multicenter, double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. Medicine. doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000017397

Fysh, E., Thomas, R., Tobin, C., Kuok, Y., & Lee, Y. (2018) Air in the Pleural Cavity Enhances Detection of Pleural Abnormalities by CT Scan. Chest 153(6):e123-e128. doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2018.02.038

Fysh, E., Smallbone, P., Mattock, N., McCloskey, C., Litton, E., Wibrow, B., Ho, K. M., & Lee, Y. (2020). Clinically Significant Pleural Effusion in Intensive Care: A Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study. Critical care explorations, 2(1), e0070. doi.org/10.1097/cce.0000000000000070 

Lyne, C., Zaw, S., King, B., See, K., Manners, D., Al-Kaisey, A., Joshi, S., Farouque, O., Irving, L., Johnson, D., & Stienfort, D. (2018) Low rates of eligibility for lung cancer screening in patients undergoing computed tomography coronary angiography. Internal Medicine Journal 48(10):1265-1268. doi.org/10.1111/imj.14061

Manners, D., Pettigrew, S., Lake, F.R., Piccolo, F., McWilliams, A.M., Brims, F.J.H. (2019) Development and evaluation of a consumer information resource, including Patient Decision Aid, for lung cancer screening: a quasi-experimental study. Translational Behavioural Medicine. doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibz029

Manners, D., Wilcox, H., McWilliams, A., Piccolo, F., Liira, H., & Brims F. (2018) Current lung cancer screening practice amongst general practitioners in Western Australia: a cross-sectional study.  Journal of Internal Medicine 48(1):78-80. doi.org/10.1111/imj.13670

Manners, D., Emery, J., Brims, J., & Pettigrew, S. (2016) Lung cancer screening - practical challenges of confining participation to those who might benefit. Australian New Zealand Journal of Public Health 40(3):205-6. doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12516

Popowicz, N., Bintcliffe, O., De Fonseka, D., Blyth, G., Smith, A., Piccolo, F., Martin, G., Wong, D., Edey, A., Maskell, N., & Lee, G. (2017) Dose De-escalation of Intrapleural Tissue Plasminogen Activator Therapy for Pleural Infection. The Alteplase Dose Assessment for Pleural Infection Therapy Project. Annals American Thoracic Society 14(6):929-936. doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201609-673OC

See K, Manser R, Park ER, Steinfort D, King B, Piccolo F, Manners D. (2020) The impact of perceived risk, screening eligibility and worry on preference for lung cancer screening: a cross-sectional survey. ERJ Open Res.;6(1):00158-2019. Published 2020 Mar 16. doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00158-2019

Thomas, R., Fysh, E., Smith, A., Lee, P., Kwan, H., Yap, E., Horwood, C., Piccolo, F., Lam, L., Garske, A., Shrestha, R., Kosky, C., Read, A., Murray, K., & Lee, G. (2017) Effect of an Indwelling Pleural Catheter vs Talc Pleurodesis on Hospitalization Days in Patients With Malignant Pleural Effusion: The AMPLE Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of American Medical Association 318(19):1903-1912. doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.17426

Weber, M., Yap, S., Goldsbury, D., Manners, D., Tammemagi, M., Marshall, H., Brims, F., McWilliams, A., Fong, K., Kang, J., Caruana, M., Banks, E., Canfell, K. (2017) Identifying high risk individuals for targeted lung cancer screening: Independent validation of the PLCOm2012 risk prediction tool. International Journal of Cancer 15:141(2):242-253. doi: 10.1002/ijc.30673. Epub 2017 Apr 21. doi.org/10.1002/ijc.30673