Mr Alister Hart

Development of Hip Implants

Alister Hart collaborates with John Skinner at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital to run a
research centre (based at Imperial) focusing on the developement of hip implants. They are both
consultant orthopaedic surgeons, specializing in hip and knee surgery, including hip revision
surgery. Each have performed over 2000 hip and knee operations and since 2004 have together
developed a world leading research program, that aims to determine the best performing hip
replacement.

They are supported by a team consisting of:
Coordinator: Gwynneth Lloyd
3D CT specialist: Johann Henckel
Research Assistants: Ashley Matthies, Kevin Ilo
Metal ion analyst: Barry Sampson
MRI radiologists: Keshthra Satchithananda, Adam Mitchell
MRI physicists: Donald Mcrobbie, Anastasia Papadaki
Histopathologist: Prof Adrienne Flanagan
Engineering advisers: Prof Phillip Noble, Prof Gordon Blunn
Collaborating surgeons: Angus Lewis

Achievements:

Along the way they have: patented new effects of metal debris shed from hip replacements;
solved a 30 year debate using a particle accelerator (the Diamond Light Source) over the type of
metal that reacts with human tissues; presented their work at the Royal Society’s 350th
anniversary exhibition which included discussions with Prince Phillip; won an award for their
work on the detection of biocompatibility problems using an MRI body scanner; presented their
research to 30,000 delegates at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons every year since
2007.

Some of the key steps in their success have been their collaboration with basic scientists and
their hands on experience of treating patients with biocompatibility problems that have been
referred to them from all over the UK. This joined-up approach is called “translational research”:
taking findings from the laboratory and applying / translating them into clinical practice. Both
Alister and John have revised over 50 patients with painful metal-on-metal hip replacements.
 Since 2007, Alister has been running a clinic for NHS patients specifically with painful metal-on-
metal hip replacements (including the Depuy ASR hip). Patients have attended from all over the
UK including as far as Glasgow, Belfast and Cornwall.

Further details: http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/a.hart/

Contact details:

Email: a.hart@imperial.ac.uk