Clinical Associate Professor Ho is an intensive care specialist at Royal Perth Hospital who was awarded a Clinician Research Fellowship to support the first clinical trial in the world attempting to find out whether putting a filter, made of titanium-nickel alloy, in the great vein of the body can prevent migration of blood clots from the legs to the lungs in patients after major trauma who are at high-risk of bleeding.

The prevention of unwanted blood clots from forming, such as during deep vein thrombosis, in patients after major injury remains one of the most contentious problems in trauma care in past decades. This landmark study showed that having such a filter implanted soon after major trauma can substantially reduce the risk of having blood clots in the lungs of patients who cannot receive blood-thinners within a week from major injury.

The results from this study provide good evidence to guide clinicians on the best way to reduce the harmful effects of having unwanted blood clots and has potential to improve outcomes of many patients with major injury as well as reduce unnecessary health expenditure. The results from this study are expected to be incorporated into the venous thromboembolic prophylaxis guidelines of different medical professional bodies that lead to clinical practice changes in this area worldwide. This study was presented in the ‘Best of the Best’ plenary session at the Shock Society Annual Scientific Meeting in Arizona in June 2018 and in the Gilbert Troup Prize session at the Australian Society of Anaesthetists National Scientific Congress in Adelaide in October 2018. The main manuscript for this project was recently accepted in the highly prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

Clinical Associate Professor Ho acknowledges the WA Department of Health and the Raine Medical Research Foundation for enabling him to initiate this multicentre study with many other like-minded trauma clinicians and researchers in Australia. This fellowship has made an enormous difference to his overall research capacity and productivity, extending beyond this specific project to include the opportunity to mentor many research students.