Sir John Charnley

Sir John Charnley (1911 – 1982) was an English orthopaedic surgeon.

Sir John Charnley was a master surgeon, innovator and bio-engineer, recognised as the founder of modern hip replacement (total hip arthroplasty)

Charnley was the first to use cold-curing acrylic cement (polymethylmethacrylate, PMMA); developed the ‘Low frictional torque arthroplasty’; and developed the concept of laminar air flow to eradicate a systemic infection problem in his hospital.

Biography

• Born on August 29, 1911 Bury, Lancashire
• 1936 – Fellow Royal College of Surgeons, England
• 1937 – Manchester Royal Infirmary
• 1940 – Royal Army Medical Corps – RAMC
• 1947 – Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon, Manchester Royal Infirmary
• 1961 – Wrightington Hospital
• 1970 – CBE and was knighted in 1977
• 1972 – Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Manchester
• 1976 – Lister Orator at the Royal College of Surgeons of England
• Died on August 5, 1982

Medical Eponyms

Charnley hip prosthesis (1950)

Low frictional torque arthroplasty. Charnley recognized that high forces exerted on a hip implant contributed to loosening over time. He found that a stainless steel ball on polytetrafluoroethylene had a coefficient of friction similar to the normal joint. In addition he reduced the femoral head size from 40 mm (Moore type) to 22 mm in order to further reduce the frictional force.

Associated persons

• Marius Nygaard Smith-Petersen (1886-1953) [Smith-Petersen mould arthroplasty, 1923]
• Austin Talley Moore (1899–1963) [Austin Moore hip prosthesis, 1942]
• Frederick Roeck Thompson (1907–1983) [Thompson Vitallium Hip Prosthesis, 1950]
• John Charnley (1911-1982) [Charnley hip prosthesis, 1950]

Major Publications

• Charnley J. The Closed Treatment of Common Fractures. Cambridge University Press. 1950 [1961 3e]
• Charnley J. Orthopaedic signs in the diagnosis of disc protrusion. With special reference to the straight-leg-raising test. Lancet. 1951 Jan 27;1(6648):186-92
• Charnley J et al. Symposium The Use of Metal in Bone Surgery. Proc R Soc Med. 1957 Oct; 50(10): 837–846
• Charnley J. Low Friction Arthroplasty of the Hip. Theory and Practice. Springer. 1979

References

Biography

• Nisbet NW, Woodruff M. John Charnley: 29 August 1911-5 August 1982. Biogr Mem Fellows R Soc. 1984;30:119-37
• Waugh W. John Charnley – The Man and the Hip. Springer 1990
• Mostofi SB. Who’s Who in Orthopedics. Springer; 2005: 60-62
• Biography: Charnley, Sir John (1911 – 1982). Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows Online. Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Eponymous terms

• Jackson J. Father of the modern hip replacement: Professor Sir John Charnley (1911-82). J Med Biogr. 2011 Nov;19(4):151-6
• Caton J, Prudhon JL. Over 25 years survival after Charnley’s total hip arthroplasty. Int Orthop. 2011 Feb;35(2):185-8
• Parcells B. History of THA. Hip & Knee Book. 2017
• AAOS. One Hip Doctor

Mike Cadogan

Associate Professor Curtin Medical School, Curtin University. Emergency physician MA (Oxon) MBChB (Edin) FACEM FFSEM Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.  Passion for rugby; medical history; medical education; and asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist. Co-founder and CTO of Life in the Fast lane | Eponyms | Books | Twitter |