The RTA's Road Trauma campaign has made Brian Owler's face familiar to many people but the cause he's currently campaigning for is not.
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The Sydney neurosurgeon has been researching hydrocephalus for almost 20 years and is one of the driving forces behind a National Shunt Registry.
While hydrocephalus affects one in 500 Australian babies and many more children and adults acquire the condition as a result of accidents, there is little public awareness of the condition.
If left untreated it can cause severe disability, even death.
Hydrocephalus occurs when there is an excessive accumulation of cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) in the brain. It can be congenital or acquired later in life.
It is the most common clinical problem paediatric neurosurgeons face and one of the most common congenital problems in children - twice that of Down syndrome.
"If we can drag down the infection rates there is the potential to save many many times over in terms of economics not to mention the emotional costs to the patient."
- A/Prof Owler.
The usual treatment is the insertion of a shunt, which drains the fluid from the brain.
The shunt has saved many lives but still has the highest failure rate of any medical implant - 50 per cent fail within two years. Patients are constantly faced with the prospect of shunt malfunction or infection and the only treatment is delicate neurosurgery to fit a replacement.
Which shunt is used and what method is used to insert it is left very much to the surgeon as there is no statistical data to rely on.
Associate Professor Owler believes the best way to improve outcomes for patients and reduce the economic cost of the condition is an Australian Shunt Registry, which would build a bank of information and become a platform for further research.
Before the last Federal Government election, funding for the establishment of the registry was approved but supporters now need a pledge of recurrent funding - less than $200,000 - to make that a reality.
"We need to be able to compare surgical techniques, compare shunt systems, and see which perform better," A/Prof Owler said.
"At the moment we don't keep very good track of implants and don't critically appraise the outcomes when they fail."
For patients, this means living with a virtual timebomb in their head, for the taxpayer it means high medical costs.
"A shunt infection can be ten times the cost of an insertion or a revision," A/Prof Owler said.
"If we can drag down the infection rates there is the potential to save many many times over in terms of economics not to mention the emotional costs to the patient.
"This device registry has the potential to save the health system millions and improve outcomes for patients.
"We have to measure outcomes and infection rates so we can do things better."
