Cardiothoracic Surgery clinical trials
For more than 50 years, The Alfred Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinical Trials Unit has been improving the clinical outcomes of patients with heart disease, lung disease and traumatic chest injuries.
About us
The Alfred Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinical Trials Unit improves treatments for patients with heart disease, lung disease and traumatic chest injuries.
We assess scientific literature and previous research to:
- Develop and test our new ideas
- Research new technologies, techniques or other interventions
We also compare new surgical methods against our standard practices to continually improve our patient’s clinical outcomes.
Find out more about our Cardiothoracic Surgery service.
Why are clinical trials so important?
We need clinical trials to prove that a new medication, device or treatment is safe and effective for people.
Without clinical trials, new treatments and medicines cannot be approved for use in Australia.
Find out more about clinical trials
What are Phase I, II, III or IV clinical trials?
There are four different phases of a clinical trial. Each phase is represented by a roman numeral.
Find out more about what happens in each phase
Our vision
- Offer our patients the safest, innovative, cutting edge treatments in order to achieve the best short and long term clinical and quality of life outcomes
Our focus
We focus on conducting clinical trials which test:
- Artificial hearts and mechanical assist devices
- Developing new techniques in heart and lung transplantation
- Improved methods for preserving donor hearts for heart transplants
- Ways to heal and mend rib fractures
- Ways to minimise surgery trauma, such as using video assisted surgery
- Reducing complications after cardiac surgery
We also conduct retrospective studies, where we look at historical clinical information of patients who have received a new surgical intervention including medical devices.
Our achievements
- Development and world 'first in human' trial of the ground breaking VentrAssist™ mechanical heart assist device
- First implantation of the new generation HeartMate 3™ mechanical heart assist device in the Asia Pacific region. First international trial to prove the safety of this device in humans. The device is now approved for use in Australia and worldwide, improving outcomes for patients with end stage heart failure.
- Performed one of the first rib fixation studies, proving the benefit of rib fixation in patients with very badly fractured ribs
- Improved sternal closure techniques for patients having heart surgery using The Sternal ZIPFIX® System
Our team
The Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinical Trials team are leaders in their fields, with decades of Australian and international experience.
Prof Silvana Marasco is the Director, Cardiothoracic Surgery at The Alfred and Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Monash University.
Associate Professor Chris Merry completed his undergraduate degree at Melbourne University and underwent postgraduate training at St Vincent’s Hospital, The Alfred and Austin Hospital. He undertook an aortic surgery fellowship at the Austin Hospital and has worked as a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon since 2008.
Mr Adam Zimmet is a Cardiothoracic & Transplantation Surgeon who has worked at The Alfred for over 15 years.
Julian Gooi is a Cardiothoracic and Transplant surgeon working at The Alfred in Victoria, Australia. He has a more than 15 years’ experience in Cardiothoracic and Transplant surgery and is one of the lead surgeons in the Paediatric lung transplant service.
Mr Justin Negri is a Cardiothoracic & Transplantation Surgeon.
_400_400.JPG)
Dr Christina Kure is the Research Manager, Cardiothoracic Surgery & Transplantation, The Alfred and Adjunct Lecturer Department of Medicine, Central Clinical School, Monash University.
Robyn Summerhayes is the Research Assistant, Cardiothoracic Surgery & Transplantation, The Alfred.
Current Trials
Total Arterial Trial “TA Trial”
To test the hypothesis that any use of saphenous vein graft (from the leg) has lower graft perfect patency in the early and later periods compared to arteries when used as bypass grafts following coronary artery bypass surgery.
Learn moreCALIPSO
The Duration of Cardiac Antimicrobial Prophylaxis Outcomes Study: multicentre, adaptive, double-blind, three-arm, placebo-controlled, noninferiority trial examining antimicrobial prophylaxis duration in cardiac surgery.
Learn more
