Liley Medal awarded to Dr Paul Young at research awards.
Dr Paul Young received his Liley Medal for leading the HRC-funded SPLIT trial, the largest clinical trial ever conducted exclusively in New Zealand intensive care units (ICUs) and the highest impact study in the field of intensive care medicine for 2015.
The study enrolled 2278 participants from four New Zealand hospitals and compared the routine use of 0.9% saline for fluid therapy with Plasma Lyte® 148 in ICU patients. The study hypothesis was that routinely using Plasma Lyte® 148 for fluid therapy instead of 0.9% saline would reduce the risk of developing acute kidney failure. Kidney failure which occurs in the setting of acute illness is associated with a high risk of death and may require treatment with costly kidney dialysis treatments. This study addressed an issue of major global public health significance because more than a million litres of 0.9% saline are administered to patients around the world daily. The study showed that 0.9% saline and Plasma Lyte® 148 led to a similar risk of acute kidney injury but also raised the possibility that in high risk patients Plasma Lyte® 148 therapy may reduce the risk of death.
