Monthly media digest February/March 2026

Anaesthetist part of life-saving team that performs rare high-risk surgery

Fellow Professor Lachlan Miles featured in an article in the Herald Sun  (paywalled) on 14 February about the Victorian Complex Oncovascular Group (V-COG) at Melbourne's Austin Hospital.

The team had to stop a patient's heart pumping and drain all the blood from his body for a nail-biting 40 minutes so they could save his life.

“Previously, attempts to operate on kidney cancer as advanced as this were extremely dangerous and would require the anaesthetist to manage liver failure and life-threatening bleeding while the surgeon tried to remove the tumour,” Professor Miles says. 

“Using this new approach, we are achieving close to 100 per cent survival, without placing the liver at risk, and without the need for a massive transfusion.”

FANZCA Professor Lachlan Miles explaining anaesthesia on radio

Professor Miles appeared on the Nova radio "Jase and Lauren" 'experts' program segment on 11 February to unveil the mystery of anaesthesia for listeners.

The seven minute segment 'Everything you need to know about going under" starts at 1:42 minutes in. 

Profile  of ANZCA President-elect Dr Tanya Selak

The Illawarra Mercury published a profile of college vice-president and president-elect Dr Tanya Selak on 12 February (paywalled).

The article revealed how she first became interested in anaesthesia and her commitment to regional centres.

FPM and pelvic pain

Associate Professor Mick Vagg, FPM's Director Professional Affairs was interviewed about the faculty's pelvic pain statement for a page one article in The Sunday Age (paywalled) on 8 February "Concern over surge in endometriosis surgery".

‘‘Surgical treatment of lesions has not been shown to reliably improve pain and disability outcomes. Some evidence suggests that ill-advised surgery may in fact worsen outcomes for some women,’' A/Prof Vagg said.