Wayne Paprosky, M.D., a renowned hip and knee surgeon at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush (MOR) in Chicago, has been awarded the prestigious John Charnley Award and medal by the John Charnley Trust. The award, presented by Mr. Martin Porter, is in memory of Sir John Charnley the founder of the modern hip replacement.
According to MOR, “Dr. Paprosky is also considered a pioneer of the procedure, as he was one of the first surgeons to perform total hip surgery with cementless implants, which is today’s standard. He developed the Paprosky Classification used worldwide for performing revision surgery. Dr. Paprosky and his colleague Dr. Charles Engh developed and implanted the first gender specific hip for women 15 years ago. These concepts have led to the development of today’s gender specific implants for active females. In addition, Dr. Paprosky performs minimally invasive total hip and knee surgery enabling patients to go home within 24 hours.”
Asked about a Charnley-esque moment during his career, Dr. Paprosky told OTW, “I’d have to say it was when I did a cementless revision hip replacement. I was one of the first in the country to do this approximately 30 years ago. This is now relatively standard.”
“Dr. Charnleywas an amazing pioneer who revolutionized hip surgery. I met him when I was a resident and attended a meeting where he was speaking, approximately six months before he died. What I admire about him is his persistence. He had several failed attempts at the hip replacement and was criticized before he perfected the procedure. He changed medicine forever and was eventually knighted by Queen Elizabeth.”
