Orthopaedics in the next millennium

Abstract

We are now 17 years into the 21st century and how far have we really moved on in orthopaedic surgery? The Time magazine ‘operation of the century’ in the year 2000 was the hip arthroplasty. Developed over a relatively short period of time, the efforts of Charnley, Harris, Muller and countless others have left a legacy of literally millions of patients whose lives have been transformed by orthopaedic surgeons. One of my old mentors used to refer to hip arthroplasty as a ‘Christmas Card operation’, by which he meant that, long after one had forgotten the patient, it was not uncommon to receive an unsolicited Christmas card with a short but personal note letting the surgeon know how the patient was doing often a decade or more after they had undergone their surgery. The problem is that hip arthroplasty remains one of …