A new research partnership led by Birmingham Health Partners members the University of Birmingham and the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (ROH) will formally launch on Monday 23 March, to improve understanding of the performance and failure of implants used in orthopaedic surgery.
The Birmingham Implant Retrievals Centre will analyse orthopaedic implants that have failed and associated tissue samples. Researchers will use these to analyse why devices fail, how implants behave inside the body, and how patient safety can be improved through earlier identification of risk.
Professor Adrian Gardner, Research and Development Director and Consultant Spinal Surgeon at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, said: “While joint replacement implants have improved significantly, and therefore patient outcomes, understanding why implants fail is critical. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the University of Birmingham to bring this research to the Midlands, supporting local researchers with this essential work that will ultimately improve patient safety through the performance of joint replacement devices.”
The University of Birmingham leads the centre in collaboration with Birmingham Health Partners, with ROH as the primary clinical partner. Additional partners include the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ODEP, Beyond Compliance, and industry collaborators.
The University of Birmingham is applying advanced engineering expertise to the study of implants that have been retrieved from patients following revision joint replacements, working closely with surgeons at ROH to understand how devices perform over time in patients. ROH is one of the UK’s largest centres for revision surgery and a global leader in orthopaedic oncology, with not only extensive knowledge of revision procedures and implant technologies but access to failed implants and consenting patient data from revision procedures.
By coordinating retrieval, consent, and transfer processes between ROH and the University, implants and tissue samples can be analysed quickly. This enables detailed insight into wear, corrosion, material degradation and failure mechanisms. The linkages with clinical data and close working relationships with clinicians will provide regulators and industry with the insight they need for future development of joint replacement implants.
The Birmingham Implant Retrievals Centre hopes this work will enhance patient safety by earlier detection of risk failure, improve understanding of the causes of revision joint replacements, and develop evidence to support better screening and testing of new and existing implant devices.
Findings will also feed into early warning systems and support compliance with guidance from organisations including NICE, MHRA, FDA, and ODEP.
Professor Michael Bryant, Professor of Tribology and Corrosion Engineering at the University of Birmingham, said: We are delighted to partner with the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital on this important initiative. Routine explant analysis, robustly linked to clinical records and National Joint Registry data, is a vital component of evidence-based life-cycle evaluation for both established and emerging orthopaedic devices. Explant analysis has long been, and continues to be, a key tool for detecting potential device-related safety signals and root cause failure mechanisms, strengthening post-market surveillance, and ultimately enhancing patient safety.”
Dr Andrew Robert Beadling, Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Birmingham said: “Preclinical assessment for joint replacements and MSK implants relies on simplified, idealised conditions to determine artificial ‘benchmarks’ of performance. Because this testing doesn’t represent real-world conditions, it provides limited actionable information and is often unrelatable to clinical outcomes. The Birmingham Implant Retrieval Centre enables the study of retrieved implants so we can better design preclinical testing according to how devices fail in the field, improving patient safety.”
The partnership also represents a further formalisation of research collaboration between the University of Birmingham and the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, strengthening research links between engineering and clinical practice.
