Summary of Program
The Orthopaedic Surgical Research Program was established to enhance academic, clinical surgical excellence and patient needs in musculoskeletal injuries and other conditions, to improve patient outcomes. There are five distinct research areas within the program: (i) robotics, (ii) lower limb arthroplasty, (iii) sarcoma, (iv) upper limb, and (v) foot & ankle. Committed to an evidence-based approach to patient education and appropriate care, the Orthopaedic Surgical Research Program strives to further the field through high quality research in each of these areas.
Since the program began in 2017, a comprehensive database (LOAD) has been established to capture every elective lower limb joint replacement performed at the Institute of Rheumatology and Orthopaedics (IRO) at RPAH, now containing over 3,500 patients. With the purchase of the Stryker MAKO Robotic System, the program has pursued research in the robotic arthroplasty space including the collection of patients reported outcomes from every patient undergoing robotic knee or hip arthroplasty (PRO-LOAD). More recently, the program has built a focus around patient education and surgical decision-making, for example through the development of patient decision aids.
Highlights
- Clinically relevant data for all hip and knee replacements performed at RPAH are captured in the Lower Limb Arthroplasty Database (LOAD). Since 2017 this database has now captured over 3,500 cases.
- The department has been supporting researched innovation in the area of arthroplasty through the purchase of the MAKO (Stryker) robot and recording of patient-reported outcomes which has been closely monitored by a Data Safety and Monitoring Board. The department has performed over 600 surgeries with this device.
- In 2019 the orthopaedic department was awarded a grant of over $250,000 to support a higher degree research project investigating how to best support the decision-making process of patients considering knee replacement for end-stage osteoarthritis. The goal of this project is to design a decision aid for these patients.
- The department is also supporting another higher degree research project investigating the role of dual mobility total hip replacement in the management of femoral neck fractures in older patients. The goal of this project is to evaluate if the use of dual mobility cups reduce the risk of adverse events, especially dislocation.
- In 2022 the orthopaedic department commenced recruitment for the RASKAL Trial, a national registry-nested, multicentre randomised trial assessing clinical, intraoperative, functional, radiographic and survivorship outcomes, the first trial of its kind seeking to produce a high quality comparison between robotic assisted and computer navigated surgical approaches.
If you would like to get involved with our Orthopaedic Surgical Research Program, submit an expression of interest HERE.