In this piece we discuss breaking trial results with Chris Bain, a consultant anaesthetist and researcher, and Luke Perry, a trainee anaesthetist and PhD student*, both from Melbourne, Australia. We explore the effects of tissue trauma on inflammation and immune responses, and new results about the modifying effect of genetic expression with glucocorticoids. Then we delve into a pilot study on pulmonary artery catheters and cardiac surgery: one of the big questions in our specialty. The pilot study showed that a large randomised trial is feasible and has equipoise.

Presented by Andy Cumpstey and Kate Leslie on location at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and Faculty of Pain Medicine in Cairns, Australia, with their guests, Dr Chris Bain, Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, The Alfred Hospital and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia and Dr Luke Perry, an ANZCA trainee in Melbourne, a PhD student at the University of Melbourne, and Head of Research, Victorian Heart Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.