Written by Laura Glitsos Monday, 04 May 2009 10:48
LIWA director Philip Thompson says that Professor Gary Lee is regarded as one of the top two or three experts globally in the field of pleural disease.
“His appointment represents a coup for West Australians.”
According to Prof Lee, why and how pleural effusion occurs is still not well understood.
“We want to know a lot more about the process of how the bacteria enters into the pleural space and why there are complications, because so far we don’t really know,” he says.
“We also want to know how we can switch off the fluid making mechanism.”
Pleural effusion is an excess accumulation of fluid in the pleural space around the lungs, brought about when fluid is not properly reabsorbed by the lymphatic system.
It is a disabling condition and can become debilitating if left untreated.
“Imagine the lungs like two balloons and the balloons are housed inside a box which is the chest cavity. Usually the balloons fill up the box and there is fluid acting as lubrication so the lungs can slide easily over the inside the box,” Prof Lee says.
“However, any lung disease can affect the pleura, so a lot of times it reacts by generating large volumes of fluid.
“The fluid fills up the box and the balloons cannot expand properly.”
While there are from 55-60 different causes, most pleural conditions are provoked by causes occurring outside the lungs, as a reaction to something else.
“One in four lung cancer patients, one in three breast cancer patients and 10 percent of lymphoedema patients will have pleural involvement,” Prof Lee says.
“But we are working towards fixing the problem, perhaps by putting in drugs that glues the pleura to the inside of the box, so the fluid doesn’t accumulate.
“We’re looking at cytokines (groups of molecules which govern neurological reactions) and it has been shown to work in animal models.
“We are also looking at bacterial products. Often the lungs are stuck to the chest wall from pneumonia, but perhaps we can use this for people with cancer to fix the lung.”
Perth has one of the highest rates of pleural cancer (mesothelioma) in the developed world and Prof Lee says there are consequently a lot of other respiratory experts doing important research work in WA.
“I think most would agree Perth is the best place to study pleural diseases and here I can bounce ideas with people,” he says.
“The intellectual part is exciting and that is the challenge."
