HMRI Researcher of the Year, Professor Zsolt Balogh, wants polytrauma recognised as a disease. His international peers are in agreement with him on this concept. 

HMRI Researcher of the Year, Professor Zsolt Balogh, wants polytrauma recognised as a disease. His international peers are in agreement with him on this concept. 

Professor Zsolt Balogh is an international leader in surgical, trauma and musculoskeletal research, education and clinical care. He is the Discipline Head of Traumatology and Surgery at the School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, the Director of Trauma at John Hunter Hospital and Hunter New England Local Health District. He also leads the Injury and Trauma Research Program at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Professor Balogh is a busy practicing trauma and orthopaedic surgeon with a major interest and expertise in complex polytrauma patient management, traumatic shock resuscitation, postinjury multiple organ failure and pelvic and acetabulum fracture patients.

“It has all the aspects of a disease and yet it’s not treated as such,” says Professor Balogh.  

Polytrauma is what happens when someone suffers from massive transfer of kinetic energy, like what happens in a car crash, fall from height or a pedestrian hit by car. There are obvious physical injuries but there are less obvious secondary implications like major inflammation of the entire body and failure of organs not even injured at the first place.  

“We know that people who have suffered polytrauma will have worse outcomes among the injured, in both the short-term and long-term. But it is underappreciated that they have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases because they burn out their regenerative capability in the acute phase of polytrauma.  

“Overall their life expectancy is shortened. This is very alarming even without the life-long psychological consequences of polytrauma. To me, this is both scary and fascinating. Injury is imagined as an accident and acute problem, which may make it to the news. The ongoing chronic impact isn’t really recognised. 

“Every tissue has a certain hidden clock that dictates how long cells can reproduce and rejuvenate themselves, the battery life of this clock is shortened due to polytrauma. I am interested in trying to understand how to rejuvenate and reprogram injured organs so that I can increase the survival of salvageable injured cells and hopefully maintain their potential to reproduce long term,” says Professor Balogh.