Davies Award for Innovation supports projects to improve kidney transplants and cancer care

Two 2024 Elaine and Michael Davies Award for Innovation winners have each received $25,000 in funding for innovative ideas that lead to improved patient outcomes and more efficient systems of care.

Dr. Tom Skinner, a Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) urologist and transplant surgeon, has developed a cooling device designed to mitigate the potential damaging effects of organ re-warming that occur during kidney transplantation.

Traditional methods of kidney transplantation require a rush to complete the procedure before the kidney warms to damaging temperatures. Dr. Skinner’s device—described as a cooling jacket—maintains a kidney’s temperature during the critical moments between removal from ice and completion of surgery. This ensures surgeons can work precisely without the pressure of a ticking clock.

“Every additional minute that a kidney warms can have lasting effects on its function,” Dr. Skinner explains. “This device eliminates the rush, letting us focus on perfecting the technical aspects of the transplant without compromising the organ.”

The device has undergone extensive testing, demonstrating its ability to maintain kidneys below five degrees Celsius for over an hour, far exceeding the typical surgical window. Now in the final stages of regulatory approval, it’s set to enter clinical trials. The implications are immense: fewer cases of delayed kidney function, shorter hospital stays and improved long-term graft survival rates.

“This innovation could be a game-changer, especially in settings where resources are limited,” Dr. Skinner emphasized.

Respirologist Dr. Sebastián Rodríguez-Llamazares and thoracic surgeon Dr. Andrew Giles are trying to improve treatment for malignant pleural effusions (MPE), a debilitating accumulation of cancerous fluid in the chest that causes difficulty in breathing (which affects 20 per cent of cancer patients).

They are receiving Davies Award funding to help implement medical pleuroscopy as an outpatient procedure at KHSC that will improve access to timely diagnostic and therapeutic care for patients with MPE. Unlike the traditional approach requiring hospital admission and operating room (OR) resources, this minimally invasive technique combines diagnosis and treatment in a single visit.

The initiative will free up operating room time and save money by moving a classically performed OR procedure requiring a hospital stay to a minimally invasive outpatient day procedure in KHSC´s Endoscopy Suite.

“Patients with MPE often endure lengthy waits for surgical intervention,” Dr. Rodríguez-Llamazares says. “Our goal is to reduce those delays, improve their comfort, and provide timely care in an outpatient setting.”

The Elaine and Michael Davies Award for Innovation is funded by an endowment established in 1989 and subsequently topped up, by Michael L. Davies, former Chair of the Board and Life Governor of Kingston General Hospital, and his wife Elaine. Since 2016, the purpose of the endowment is to fund annual awards that support hospital-based innovation at both KHSC and Providence Care.

The recipients were announced at a ceremony at KHSC on December 17, 2024.