The Birmingham Implant Retrieval Centre (BIRC) is a dedicated, collaborative centre bringing together surgeons, engineers, and researchers at the University of Birmingham and The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.
Our vision is to move beyond reactive models of surveillance, where failed implants are routinely discarded, towards a proactive evidence-based approach that directly informs medical device innovation. By systematically collecting retrieved implants at the point of surgery we aim to capture the “real-world” performance of medical devices, using advanced engineering analysis to evaluate failure modes and link them to patient demographics and National Joint Registry data.
By bringing together our expertise in engineering and knowledge of why implants fail we can identify implants that perform poorly for different types of patients, and better inform their future design.
- Implant Retrieval
- We collect failed implants through robust, ethical protocols directly from theatre via dedicated teams embedded within the revision surgery infrastructure at ROH
- We maintain anonymised patient / surgical data for every revised device with traceable clinical evidence, linkable to NJR data
- Root Cause Failure Analysis
- Using advanced engineering techniques we map material degration
- Identifying key failure modes such as wear, corrosion, or modular interface issues
- Actionable Insight
- This data is fed back to key stakeholders including surgeons, regulators, and manufacturers
- Closing the loop on implant life-cycles and improving patient outcomes
Retrieved Implants To Date: 34
Analysis modalities:
- GD&T Metrology from nm to cm+
- Profilometry and topography maps
- Electron Microscopy
- FTIR and RAMAN Spectroscopy
- Root cause failure analysis
- Beyond Compliance reporting
- Device life-cycle framework
