Ultraclean surgical technology: the story of a pioneering operator

Since its introduction in the 1960s, total hip replacement surgery has proved one of the most effective procedures in modern medical history – a true landmark in 20th-century surgery. What was once a rare and risky operation has now become one of the world’s most frequently performed elective surgical procedures, with over 70,000 people each year in the UK alone receiving a new hip.

November 2012 marked the 50th anniversary of the development of the technique that revolutionised hip replacement surgery – a technique which largely has remained unchanged since then, and forms the basis for all modern hip implants. It was developed by a British surgeon, Professor Sir John Charnley, while he was working at Wrightington Hospital in Lancashire, a hospital that remains a Mecca for orthopaedic surgeons.

Wrightington Hospital and the hip implant
In the early 1950s, Professor Charnley was a very successful Manchester-based consultant, who already had a reputation for ground-breaking work in the field of trauma and fractures. One day, he saw a patient suffering from a rather embarrassing problem with his existing hip implant – every time he reached forward to get the salt at meal times, it squeaked, and his wife said it made her feel sick. This inspired Professor Charnley to think about what was going on at the joint, and how both the new joint, and the process of replacement, could be improved.