How this 15-year-old Montreal teen ended up published in the New England Journal of Medicine
Thomas Khairy studied whether it was safe to reuse sterilized pacemakers for heart patients outside Canada
Thomas Khairy may very well be the only person ever to find out they would be published in the New England Journal of Medicine while riding the school bus.
The 15-year-old's study, Infections Associated with Resterilized Pacemakers and Defibrillators, was published in the prestigious publication last week. Khairy is listed as the lead author.
"At first, I didn't believe it," the Montreal teen, who learned of the news months ago, told The Current's Matt Galloway. "Throughout the whole publication process, the biggest message that was being sent my way was to not get my hopes up."
The study examined the number of patients who developed infections when implanted with a used and sterilized pacemaker or defibrillator — devices that assist the heart with pumping blood and maintaining a consistent rhythm — to determine whether they were suitable for reuse in regions with "limited resources."
I can only imagine how many lives could potentially be saved if more centres started sending these devices and participating in this humanitarian effort.- Thomas Khairy
Khairy says he was inspired by the work of Marie-Andrée Lupien, a specialist at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI), who has collected used, but good condition pacemakers for patients in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Honduras. The program started at MHI in 1983.
"When I asked her how many lives she saved, she just simply didn't have the time to assemble all the databases and to count," Khairy said. "So … I took it upon myself to find out for her."
He was 12 years old at the time, and the project became the basis for a science fair project the following year.
Project's motive 'to see how many lives can be saved'
The study uncovered that the number of infections for patients given reused pacemakers did not differ significantly compared to those who received a new device over a two-year period.
"The database had 1,051 patients that received a resterilized device and their infection rate was 2 per cent," Khairy explained.
Without a control group, however, the data was useless. So alongside researchers at the Montreal Heart Institute, Khairy paired each patient given a resterilized pacemaker with three others given a new device, matched by age, sex and implant model.
The infection rate for the control group, Khairy discovered, was 1.2 per cent.
"Even though there is a difference of 0.8 per cent, there were many vigorous logistical tests that were run through the data and it was proven … that the difference is not even statistically significant," he told Galloway.
But "that means nothing" if the devices can't make their way to patients around the world.
"Since the beginning, the whole initiative of this project was really just to see how many lives can be saved," he said.
"I can only imagine how many lives could potentially be saved if more centres started sending these devices and participating in this humanitarian effort."
Future cardiologist?
With people around him telling him not to get his hopes up, Khairy admits that he had low expectations for making it into the New England Journal of Medicine.
His father, a cardiologist and director at MHI, explained that it was a challenging feat — and that he himself has never been published in the journal.
Initially the Massachusetts Medical Association, which publishes the NEJM, wasn't aware of his age, Khairy says, assuming his doctoral credentials were mistakenly left off the application.
"I guess they did a bit of research and they found out that, 'Hey, this guy has the same name and he's a 15-year-old living in Montreal. Is this the guy?' And yeah, it was me," he recalled.
Now in his final weeks of high school, the young researcher has his sights set on medicine — but he's tempering his expectations for post-secondary education, too.
"Obviously, after working at the Montreal Heart Institute for the past three years, I'm pretty much leaning towards cardiology, but I mean, we'll see," he said.
"My first step would have to be to get into med school. I'm not even there yet."
Written by Jason Vermes. Produced by Susan McKenzie.
