Specialist Society
This session will focus on the role of bone cement in knee arthroplasty as well as the emerging evidence for the use of cementless implants. It will cover basic science as well as clinical evidence. There will also be an overview of the challenges posed by the recent bone cement supply issue, its impact, and the steps taken to address this issue.
Chair: Abtin Alvand
08:30 – 08:35: Mr Abtin Alvand
Introduction
08:35 – 08:55: Mr Alasdair Santini
Why We Should Still Use Cement in Knee Arthroplasty Despite the 2026 Cement Debacle
08:55 – 09:05: Discussion
09:05 – 09:25: Mr Alex Liddle
Cementless Knee Arthroplasty Is the Future
09:25 – 09:40: Discussion
09:40 – 09:50: Prof Andrew Toms
Revision Knee Replacement – Stuff Wot We Know
09:50 – 09:55: Discussion
09:55 – 10:00: Mr Alasdair Santini
Abtin is a Consultant Orthopaedic Knee Surgeon at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Oxford (NDORMS). He graduated from University of London (Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine). After completing basic surgical training on the prestigious Hammersmith surgical rotation, he began higher surgical training in Trauma and Orthopaedics on the Oxford programme in 2008. He took three years out of programme to undertake a PhD (DPhil) as the NIHR Biomedical Research Unit Fellow at the University of Oxford. His DPhil was titled “Improving Surgical Learning and Performance at Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty”. Abtin was appointed as NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford in 2015, and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in 2017. He undertook two post-CCT sub-specialist clinical fellowships focusing on complex hip and knee surgery in Oxford and Stanmore (Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital). He was then appointed in Oxford as a Consultant Orthopaedic Knee Surgeon. Clinically, he has a specialist interest in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty, revision knee arthroplasty, and peri-prosthetic joint infection.
Alasdair Santini is a Consultant in Trauma and Orthopaedics at Liverpool University Hospitals FT where he specialises primary and revision knee arthroplasty, arthroscopic surgery to the knee and hip arthroplasty. He lives in Cheshire and is married with three sons. He was educated at The Edinburgh Academy and then at The University of Sheffield. He is a fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. His higher training in orthopaedics was on the Mersey Orthopaedic Rotation and involved a year at Wrightington Hospital and a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow sponsored travelling fellowship to visit Dr Leo Whiteside in St Louis, USA. He is the current Treasurer for BASK as well as the President of the Grosvenor Orthopaedic Club and Managing Partner of the Bone and Joint Centre. He is an honorary clinical lecturer at The University of Liverpool and has a number of peer reviewed publications. Alasdair Santini was a keen fencer, having been captain of The University of Sheffield team but currently keeps fit by skiing and coaching junior rugby. He is a lifetime ticket holder of seats at Murrayfield so he can follow Scotland’s rugby internationals.
Alex is a consultant hip and knee surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Clinical Associate Professor at Imperial College. His clinical practice revolves around partial, total and revision knee replacement, hip resurfacing, primary and revision hip replacement. His research focusses on improving outcomes and preventing complications of joint replacement, including work on optimising fixation in cementless implants, interventions to prevent and treat prosthetic joint infection, and use of routinely collected data to improve patient selection and surgical practice. He is Surgical Speciality Lead for elective orthopaedics at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, sits on the research committee of the British Orthopaedic Association, and is Chief Medical Officer of Osstec, an Imperial spinout company developing implants based on novel cementless lattice technologies.
