The Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register

Professor Göran Bauer was the head of the Department of Orthopedics in Lund 1969–1989. The story goes that a failed surgery in the early 1970s, in which a left knee implant was inserted in the right knee (or vice versa), triggered his interest in monitoring the results of knee arthroplasty, which at the time was being performed with a variety of implants.

Bauer regarded knee arthroplasty as a large-scale human experiment and he thought it should be monitored. Who would benefit from these implants? Were they safe? What was the outcome? What were the types and rates of failure, and could they be managed? Thus, he became the major promoter of initiating a nationwide registration and in 1974, in collaboration with the Swedish Orthopedic Society, a meeting was held in Uppsala to decide on the matter. A group of about 20 interested surgeons attended and the majority voted for the project.

With monetary contributions from the Swedish Medical Research Council (MFR), the first national arthroplasty register was started in 1975 with its office located in Lund. Initially, not all operating units joined and although participation steadily grew, it was not until the early 1990s that the whole of Sweden was covered.

Professor Göran Bauer was responsible for the registry until his retirement in 1989, at which point Professor Lars Lidgren (who also attended the first meeting) took over. At the end of 2009, Lidgren stepped down but he will stay on as a patron and researcher.