Features
Ronnie Furlong, the man, his hip, his philosophy, the manufacturing breakthrough… Alister Hart It is 50 years since the founding of the UK hip implant manufacturer, JRI Ltd, by Ronnie Furlong. Actually it is now 51 years, because this anniversary was overlooked in 2020 because of COVID-19. I met him, and his wife Eileen, whilst working on the surgical training rotation at St Thomas’ Hospital in 1998. He was an inquisitive doer, entrepreneur, and leader who was at the epicentre of British orthopaedics at a crucial time. 1970 is arguably the key year for hip implant innovation in the UK: the year the Exeter stem was invented; the year that Bill Harris started the renowned Harvard hip course to disseminate the use of the Charnley hip replacement throughout the USA; and the year that Ronnie Furlong set up JRI Ltd to import the Muller ‘Banana’ hip from Germany to the UK.
Alister Hart is a hip surgeon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust and the UCL chair of orthopaedics. The BBC nicknamed him the ‘Hospital Hip Detective’ for his clinical and research work on hip implants which has led to changes to international health policy and regulation. He has pioneered the use of 3D printing for primary and revision hip surgery.
Key dates in Ronnie Furlong’s life (1909 – 2002) • 1969 – Director of the Orthopaedic Department at St Thomas’ Hospital. • 1970 – Established JRI Ltd to enable import of the Muller stem from Germany. • 1976 – JRI manufacturing plant in Sheffield. • 1979 – Clinical use of new cemented Furlong straight stem: based on the conical stopper of a wine decanter. • 1985 – The first hydroxyapatite ceramic coated (HAC) prosthesis, the cementless Furlong straight stem, was implanted by Ronnie Furlong.
20 | JTO | Volume 09 | Issue 01 | March 2021 | boa.ac.uk
Ronnie Furlong.
