Southern Cross Healthcare Orthopaedic Surgeons win international award
Two Auckland surgeons at Southern Cross North Harbour Hospital have won a prestigious international award for their research into pain management.
Simon Young and Bill Farrington won the Clinical Research Award at the 2024 American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.
The award is given annually in recognition of outstanding clinical research in the field of hip and knee surgery.
Mr Young, lead surgeon in the study, said the AAHKS meeting is the largest hip and knee replacement meeting in the world for orthopaedic surgeons, attracting over 5000 attendees and 1800 submissions for just three awards.
“The quality of the presentations is consistently superb, so we feel honoured and excited to have won the clinical award,” he said.
Mr Young and Mr Farrington’s VOLT study – named after the Voltaren pain killer – was conducted at Southern Cross North Harbour Hospital.
In the study, 46 people who needed knee surgery were split into two groups for a double-blinded, randomised controlled trial which investigated the effect of injecting painkiller directly into the bone before knee replacement surgery.
“Restricting the drug to the area where we operate meant that we would have a much higher concentration where it’s needed,” Mr Young said.
He said the results were significant after 24 hours, with reduced need for morphine to control the pain after the operation.
There was also a reduced impact of pain on walking and sleeping as well as improved patient satisfaction in the following weeks.
“It’s a simple change in technique but resulted in a noticeable effect for patients.
“We are grateful to the team at Southern Cross North Harbour Hospital for supporting us to do the research.”
Image: L-R: Bill Farrington (orthopaedic surgeon), Leanne Benn (anaesthetic technician), Rachelle Wilson (registered nurse), Simon Young (orthopaedic surgeon and lead on study), Danita Hodge (RNAA), Alicia Zanders (associate theatre manager), Sarah Young (clinical nurse lead), Lance Nicholson (anaesthetist), Stephanie Thomas (RN), Marilyn Maligro (registered nurse), and Carlo Flores (clinical nurse lead).
