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Continuing Professional Development
1 RACGP CPD hour - Educational Activities
A pleural effusion is an abnormal build-up of fluid around the lungs and can be a sign of serious illness. This webinar offers an overview of recent advancements in diagnosis and management.
Pleural effusions – especially when unilateral and recurrent – can be harbingers of serious conditions, including primary or metastatic malignancies, infections such as tuberculosis, and other inflammatory illnesses. Timely diagnosis is essential to allow prompt, effective treatments.
Diagnosis of these effusions is based on gathering a thorough history, the evaluation of the pleural fluid and very often, a tissue biopsy. The procedures involved and the interpretation of results require training and significant expertise.
In this webinar speakers led by thoracic surgeon Dr Bibhusal Thapa will lead discussion on the diagnostic algorithm for unilateral pleural effusion, plus the modalities and characteristics of pleural biopsies. The pathways available at Northern Health for referral of patients with pleural effusions will also be discussed.
Dr Thapa will be joined by respiratory and sleep physicians Dr Sanjeevan Muruganandan and medical oncologist Dr Vishal Boolell.
Speakers
Dr Bibhusal Thapa
Dr Bibhusal Thapa is a thoracic surgeon and is currently head of unit at the Northern Hospital Thoracic Surgery Unit. Dr Thapa has extensive experience in surgery in patients with lung cancer and pleural diseases, both malignancy and infection related. His special interest is in minimal access thoracic surgery (VATS) and lung preserving surgery for lung cancer. He is also interested in clinical research and in teaching and training juniors. He has completed a PhD in molecular biology of mesothelioma through the University of Melbourne.
Dr Sanjeevan Muruganandan
Dr Sanjeevan trained at the Western and Austin Hospitals and qualified as a respiratory and sleep physician (FRACP) in 2015. He then moved to Perth where he completed a fellowship with Prof Martin Phillips/Dr Rajesh Thomas in interventional pulmonology/Lung cancer at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. He subsequently did a PhD on malignant pleural diseases with Prof. Gary Lee. He currently works as a respiratory and sleep physician at The Northern Hospital.
Dr Sanjeevan leads the Pleural Medicine Unit (PMU) at Northern Health, Victoria’s first formal service. He has a strong research focus and a goal to translate his research work into clinical practice in order to help reduce the mortality, morbidity and health care costs of patients with pleural diseases.
Dr Vishal Boolell
Dr Vishal is a full time medical oncologist at Northern Health with a keen interest in the management of thoracic malignancies as well as breast, genitourinary and gynaecological cancers.
Dr Vishal graduated from the University of Melbourne and completed his advanced training in Medical Oncology in 2014 through Bendigo Health, Western Health and Monash Health. Following this he worked as a clinical fellow in early clinical trials at Monash Health and subsequently worked at Ballarat Health Services prior to moving to Northern Health in 2021.
Dr Vishal is keen to continue improving outcomes for cancer patients as well as improve access to clinical trials at Northern Health.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- evaluate patients with unilateral pleural effusion
- apply referral pathway to relevant specialty team at the Northern Hospital.
- demonstrate understanding of the various diagnostic and therapeutic modalities available
- recognise the common malignancies that cause pleural effusion.
