User:ExeterHipUnit/sandbox

History of the Exeter Hip Replacement
The story of the Exeter Total Hip Replacement goes back to 1965. At the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital in Exeter, Robin Ling was appointed and performed a new and challenging operation - The total hip replacement. At the time in Exeter, the design used was a type of metal-on-metal hip replacement called the McKee-Farrar. Between 1965 and 1969, between 300 and 350 McKee-Farrar hips were implanted in Exeter. The results of this type of hip replacement were not good and an alternative was sought. In the United Kingdom in early 1969, there were three designs of total hip arthroplasty: the McKee-Farrar, the Ring (another type of metal-on-metal hip joint, and the late Sir John Charnley’s Low Friction Arthroplasty. It was thought that the metal bearing was the cause of failure of the McKee-Farrar design used up to that point and therefore, there was little desire to use the Ring prosthesis. Therefore, the remaining alternative was the Charnley. The main problem was that this hip replacement had been designed to be inserted via a trochanteric osteotomy. At the time in Exeter, the majority of surgeons were using the posterior approach and were reluctant to change. The decision was taken that a new hip replacement would be developed and Robin Ling sought help from the engineering department at Exeter University. It was though this connection that he met with a young engineer, Clive Lee, and together they developed the Exeter Hip Replacement.