Cardiac Emergencies Research Program
Theme leader
Associate Professor Dion Stub
Cardiologist A/Prof Dion Stub has a particular interest in treating the cardiac emergencies of myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest. He applies his significant research and clinical experience to his role as Co-Director of the CCRET, and as Cardiology Advisor to Ambulance Victoria. 
He also holds leadership positions across all the major pre-hospital and hospital cardiac registries in Victoria, including the Victorian Ambulance Cardiac arrest registry (VACAR), the Victorian Cardiac outcomes registry (VCOR ) and the Victorian Ambulance ST-elevation Myocardial infarction (STEMI) quality Initiative (VASQI).
Dion has leveraged these positions to facilitate highly successful linkage and integration of these large population based cardiac data sets, providing comprehensive insights into the management and outcomes of cardiac emergencies in Australia. He’s published extensively, delivered multiple presentations in both cardiac emergencies and structural heart interventions, and has been internationally recognised for his research.
His current clinical trials include:
AVOID 2: Randomized Controlled Trial of Lignocaine Versus Opioids in Myocardial Infarction
A randomised controlled trial of 308 participants with Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), comparing the safety, efficacy and tolerance of opioids vs lignocaine for pain relief. Lignocaine was found to be mildly less effective for chest pain relief, but was safe and better tolerated than fentanyl when used as pre-hospital analgesia in AMI cases.
PANDA – Noradrenaline vs Adrenaline in the initial management of cardiogenic shock
An award-winning multi-centre, adaptive randomised controlled trial involving 890 participants, looking at 28-day all-cause mortality differences between using noradrenaline vs adrenaline in the pre-hospital management of patients experiencing cardiogenic shock.
AUGMENT – Manual Pressure Augmentation in Defibrillation of Ventricular Arrhythmias
A cluster randomised trial involving 1,500 participants, comparing the efficacy and safety of manual pressure augmentation (MPA) compared with standard defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA)
Pre-hospital point-of-care troponin and paramedic assessment in patients with chest pain without ST-elevation (pilot study)
A cluster randomised controlled trial of 1,200 participants to assess the feasibility and acceptability of pre-hospital risk assessment of non-traumatic chest pain patients, using a risk assessment tool and point-of care troponin testing.