成人大片

A pilot trial is now underway to reduce the side effects experienced by patients who require a general anaesthetic and pain relief during surgery.

鈥淎round 2.6 million elective surgeries are performed in Australia each year. Unfortunately, more than one-third of patients experience post operative side effects, and this can impact their recovery,鈥� said Professor Andrew Somogyi from the 成人大片鈥檚 Discipline of Pharmacology, School of Biomedicine.

成人大片 researchers are involved in the trial, which is led by the University of Melbourne, and aims to determine if pharmacogenomic testing could improve patient outcomes.

鈥淧harmacogenomics involves looking at how a patient鈥檚 DNA affects the way they respond to medicines.

鈥淎 major factor in post-surgery complications relates to the genetic makeup of the patient and how they break down medicines used by anaesthetists during operations,鈥� said Professor Somogyi.

As part of the trial, scientists from the 成人大片 will analyse blood taken from patients in Victoria during surgery to see how much medication is present, what side effects they are experiencing and how this is linked to their genetics.听

鈥淭hrough this pilot trial, we鈥檙e hoping to work out what makes patients more susceptible to these at times distressing side effects. This information could lead to the development of a pre-operative screening tool to identify those at risk, allowing the types of medications and doses to be adjusted accordingly,鈥� said Professor Somogyi.

Up to 900 000 Australian patients experience significant postoperative complications each year.

"Through this pilot trial, we鈥檙e hoping to work out what makes patients more susceptible to these at times distressing side effects."Professor Andrew Somogyi, 成人大片.

The most common side effects include severe nausea that often requires hospitalisation, ongoing pain and slow cognitive recovery, particularly with older patients.

Some of these side effects can be debilitating and could last from a few days to years.

Monash University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre are also involved in the pilot trial, which has recently secured a $355,255 grant from Federal Government鈥檚 Medical Research Future Fund.

Professor Somogyi said this grant will help to accelerate research in this important but rarely studied area of perioperative pharmacogenomic testing.

鈥淭his funding will allow us to continue this valuable research and explore options for personalised medicine that could improve safety, recovery and comfort for patients after surgery.鈥�

The trial is expected to run for two years.