Mr Brett Knowles
Mr Brett Knowles completed his training in General Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2007. He then completed a year long Australian fellowship in Upper Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary surgery at Box Hill Hospital before heading to the United Kingdom for two years.
The first year was spent as a clinical fellow in Hepatobiliary and Transplantation Surgery at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh working for Regius Professor James Garden. The second year was spent as a clinical and research fellow in the Hepatobiliary unit at Basingstoke NHS working for Mr Myrddin Rees. Basingstoke NHS is one of the leading European centres for liver and cytoreduction surgery in Europe.
Upon returning to Australia in late 2010, Brett commenced specialist practice in Melbourne with public appointments at St Vincent’s Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Brett has an active involvement in teaching, surgical training and research and is committed to providing the highest standards of patient care.
Education and Experience
HPB Clinical Fellow: Basingstoke NHS, North Hampshire, United Kingdom 2010
HPB/Transplant Clinical Fellow: Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, Scotland 2009
UGI and HPB Surgical Fellow: Boxhill Hospital, Melbourne, Australia 2008
FRACS: Melbourne May 2007
Diploma of Surgical Anatomy: Melbourne University 2004
Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery: Auckland University 2000
Bachelor of Human Biology: Auckland University 1997
Bachelor of Science (Chemistry & Philosophy): Auckland University 1995
Publications
Oo, J., Allen, M., Loveday, B. P., Lee, N., Knowles, B., Riedel, B., Burbury, K. and Thomson, B 2020, 'Coagulation in liver surgery: an observational haemostatic profile and thromboelastography study,' ANZ Journal of Surgery, vol.90, no.6, pp. 1112-1118. doi:10.1111/ans.15912
Rowcroft, A., Loveday, B. P., Thomson, B. N., Banting, S. and Knowles, B 2020, 'Systematic review of liver directed therapy for uveal melanoma hepatic metastases,' HPB, vol.22, no.4, pp. 497-505. doi:10.1016/j.hpb.2019.11.002
Maharaj, A. D., Samoborec, S., Evans, S. M., Zalcberg, J., Neale, R. E., Goldstein, D., Merrett, N., White, K., Croagh, D., Pilgrim, C. H. and Evans, P, et al. 2020, 'Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in pancreatic cancer: a systematic review,' HPB, vol.22, no.2, pp. 187-203. doi:10.1016/j.hpb.2019.09.002
Maharaj, A., Samoborec, S., Evans, S. M., Zalcberg, J., Neale, R. E., Goldstein, D., Merrett, N., White, K., Croagh, D., Pilgrim, C. H. and Evans, P, et al. 2019, 'Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in pancreatic cancer: a systematic review,' QUALITY OF LIFE RESEARCH, vol.28 pp. S57-S57.
Maharaj, A. D., Holland, J. F., Scarborough, R. O., Evans, S. M., Ioannou, L. J., Brown, W., Croagh, D. G., Pilgrim, C. H., Kench, J. G., Lipton, L. R. and Leong, T, et al. 2019, 'The Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Registry (UGICR): a clinical quality registry to monitor and improve care in upper gastrointestinal cancers,' BMJ Open, vol.9, no.9, pp. e031434-. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031434
Marley, L., Navadgi, S., Banting, S., Fox, A., Hii, M. and Knowles, B 2019, 'Safety, efficacy and compliance of extended thromboprophylaxis in hepatobiliary and upper gastrointestinal surgery,' ANZ Journal of Surgery, vol.89, no.4, pp. 357-361. doi:10.1111/ans.14287
Lau, L. F., Knowles, B., Fox, A. and Banting, S 2018, 'Management of gallstone pancreatitis in the vagrant liver,' ANZ Journal of Surgery, vol.88, no.10, pp. E741-E742. doi:10.1111/ans.13715
Suen, K., Skandarajah, A. R., Knowles, B., Judson, R. and Thomson, B. N 2016, 'Changes in the management of liver trauma leading to reduced mortality: 15-year experience in a major trauma centre,' ANZ Journal of Surgery, vol.86, no.11, pp. 894-899. doi:10.1111/ans.13248
Thomson, B. N., Nardino, B., Gumm, K., Robertson, A. J., Knowles, B. P., Collier, N. A. and Judson, R 2012, 'Management of blunt and penetrating biliary tract trauma,' Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, vol.72, no.6, pp. 1620-1625. doi:10.1097/TA.0b013e318248ed65
Knowles, B., Bellamy CO, Oniscu A, Wigmore SJ. Hepatic resection for metastatic endometrioid carcinoma. HPB (Oxford). 2010 Aug; 12(6): 412-7.Knowles, B., Corcoran, N.M., Usatoff, V. Reading the Signs: Occult Metastatic Cholangiocarcinoma Detected by Full Body Screening in Dermatomyostitis. ANZ Journal of Surgery. (Accepted for publication as letter to Editor).
Knowles, B., Serpell, J. Extranodal Lymphoma Presenting as a Mimic of Soft Tissue Sarcoma. ANZ Journal of Surgery, Issue 73, pp 26-30, 2003.
Local Presentations
RACS Annual Scientific Congress invited speaker — Brisbane ASC 3rd May 2016
“Managning pNET liver metastases”
“Laparoscopic liver surgery”
Peter MacCallum NET unit preceptorship — Melbourne 26th Feb 2016
“Surgery of Neuroendocrine tumours”
St Vincent’s Surgical Forum (Guest Speaker) — Melbourne Sept 2013
“Advances in liver surgery”
Merck Serono Tailored therapy meeting (Guest Speaker) — Canberra 22nd Feb 2013
“Management of Colorectal Liver Metastases”
ANZHPBA conference — Coolum 6th November 2012
“Neuroendocrine tumours”
Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand Spring meeting (Guest Speaker) — 18th Oct 2012
“Liver surgery – timing with chemotherapy”
Peter MacCallum Symposium of Oncology — 29th June 2011
“Stage IV Colorectal Cancer”
Peter MacCallum Symposium of Oncology — 20th July 2011
“Chemotherapy and the liver” -
Melbourne GUT club — 22nd Sept 2011
“Role of Microwave Ablation of Liver Tumours”
Annual RMH Anaesthetic Seminar — 28th Oct 2011
“Intercostal tubes: How, when and why”
International Presentations
RACS congress 2008 in Hong Kong
Management of blunt liver and spleen injuries – The Royal Melbourne Experience
Does surgical approach influence outcome in anal melanoma
EHPBA congress 2011 in Cape Town South Africa
Detailed liver specific imaging prior to pre-operative chemotherapy prevents liver recurrence.
ANZHPBA Oct 2014 meeting Queenstown NZ
Two cases of superior mesenteric vein aneurysms (E Poster)
Laparoscopic management of median arcuate ligament syndrome- a video presentation and review of literature (E Poster)
Teaching Roles
University of Melbourne: Clinical Lecturer
Public Hospital Appointments
Consultant in Hepatobiliary and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery:
Royal Melbourne Public Hospital
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
St Vincent’s Public Hospital
Visiting General Surgeon:
Royal Women’s Hospital
Professional Associations
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS)
Australia and New Zealand Hepatic Pancreatic & Biliary Association (ANZHPBA)
Asian and Pacific HPB Society (APHPBA)
International HPB Society (IHPBA)
Australia and New Zealand Association for the Surgery of Trauma (ANZAST)