It has now been shown that, if bronchiectasis is picked up early in children, appropriate management can reverse the radiological airway damage in some patients. It is therefore crucial that children are diagnosed early and receive the best medical care.
Many parents have not heard of bronchiectasis until their child has been diagnosed. It is often at this point that parents seek out further information, and our respiratory research group has developed several resources to support families.
Bronchiectasis is a chronic respiratory disease which currently has no licensed medication specific to the condition. The BronchiEctasis Trial Testing ERdosteine investigates a bronchiectasis-specific pharmaceutical treatment aiming to improve patient outcomes.
My research uses next generation sequencing technologies to detect gene patterns in blood in children with bronchiectasis. This helps identify which children will have better outcomes and respond best to treatments.
A clinical trial led by AusHSI's Prof Anne Chang AM to investigate the treatable traits of chronic wet cough in children that could lead to prevention of chronic lung disease has received $2.6 million from the Medical Research Future Fund Clinical Trials Activity grant.
