Hip and Knee Arthroplasty

The hip and knee arthroplasty team provides primary and revision hip and knee replacement for adults in Melbourne’s west, including direct anterior approach hip replacement and robotic-assisted knee replacement. Elective operating takes place mainly at Williamstown and Footscray hospitals, and most patients follow the Department’s Enhanced Recovery After Surgery pathway.

Robotic Knee Replacement

The team uses the ROSA Knee System, a robotic platform made by Zimmer Biomet, for primary total knee replacement. ROSA builds a model of the patient’s knee from X-rays taken before surgery and, during the operation, gives the surgeon measurements of alignment, range of motion and soft tissue balance before any bone cuts are made. The surgeon uses this to plan and fine-tune the position of the implant for that patient. The robot guides the cuts but does not operate on its own, and the surgeon remains in control throughout.

Robotic-assisted knee replacement is a core part of the Advanced Arthroplasty Fellowship, where most primary knee replacements are performed with robotic assistance. Fellows do not need previous robotic experience.

Our Surgeons

• Professor Phong Tran, Head of Department
• Mr Saeed Asadollahi, revision hip and knee
• Mr Brett Jackson
• Mr Camdon Fary
• Mr Ishfaq Hussaini
• Mr John Clifford
• Mr Raghavan Unni
• Mr Raymond Crowe
• Mr Rohan Sheehy
• Mr Simon Talbot
• Mr William Pianta

Fellowships

• Anterior Hip and Hip Arthroscopy Fellowship, AOA accredited
• Western Health Advanced Arthroplasty Fellowship – Robotics & Revision, commencing February 2027
• EFORT International Travelling Fellowship, hip and knee replacement in Europe and Melbourne

Current Research

• Long-term patient-reported outcomes collected before surgery and out to ten years after every hip and knee replacement.
• A randomised trial comparing anterior, posterior and Hardinge approaches for hip replacement, with 272 patients randomised and final data being prepared for analysis.
• STOP Knee OA, a multicentre trial of the weight loss medication tirzepatide in people waiting for knee replacement.
• SOLID, a trial of translated patient information to improve consent for hip and knee replacement in patients who need an interpreter.
• Connected Care, questionnaire and telehealth follow-up after joint replacement.
• Work on quadriceps alignment and knee replacement outcomes.

Past Research

Earlier work includes randomised trials of tranexamic acid in hip replacement, a randomised trial of a local anaesthetic pain pump after anterior hip replacement, comparisons of pain medicine needs between hip approaches, and participation in CRISTAL, the national trial comparing aspirin with enoxaparin after joint replacement.

Publications by Year

Selected Publications

Recent and earlier papers with members of the team among the authors.

1. Keltz E, Almaslmani S, Ng E, Tirosh O, Spiers L, Vogrin S, Tran P. Neutral and constitutional coronal alignment yield similar outcomes in total knee arthroplasty at mid-term follow-up using the coronal plane alignment of the knee classification. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2025;33(10):3629-3636. doi:10.1002/ksa.12742
2. Rhee I, Tirosh O, Ho A, Griffith A, Salehi L, Jensen A, Spiers L, Tran P. The effect of 3 commonly used surgical approaches for total hip arthroplasty on mid- to long-term patient-reported outcome measures. Hip Int. 2024;34(2):161-167. doi:10.1177/11207000231199342
3. Rhee I, Tirosh O, Ho A, Griffith A, Salehi L, Jensen A, Spiers L, Tran P. Do Certain Patient Cohorts Benefit From Different Surgical Approaches in Total Hip Arthroplasty? J Arthroplasty. 2023;38(8):1545-1550. doi:10.1016/j.arth.2023.02.026
4. Talbot S, Zordan R, Sasanelli F, Sun M. Preoperative quadriceps malalignment is associated with poor outcomes after knee replacement which are avoided by external rotation of the femoral component. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2025;33(4):1418-1427. doi:10.1002/ksa.12544
5. Sidhu VS, Kelly TL, Pratt N, Graves SE, Buchbinder R, Adie S, Cashman K, Ackerman I, Bastiras D, Brighton R, Burns AWR, Chong BH, Clavisi O, Cripps M, Dekkers M, de Steiger R, Dixon M, Ellis A, Griffith EC, Hale D, Hansen A, Harris A, Hau R, Horsley M, James D, Khorshid O, Kuo L, Lewis P, Lieu D, Lorimer M, MacDessi S, McCombe P, McDougall C, Mulford J, Naylor JM, Page RS, Radovanovic J, Solomon M, Sorial R, Summersell P, Tran P, Walter WL, Webb S, Wilson C, Wysocki D, Harris IA. Effect of Aspirin vs Enoxaparin on Symptomatic Venous Thromboembolism in Patients Undergoing Hip or Knee Arthroplasty: The CRISTAL Randomized Trial. JAMA. 2022;328(8):719-727. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.13416
6. Keeka M, Tran P, Tirosh O. The effect of a postoperative local anaesthetic pain pump in anterior total hip arthroplasty: a randomised control trial. Hip Int. 2023;33(3):360-364. doi:10.1177/11207000211069860
7. Seah S, Quinn M, Tirosh O, Tran P. Postoperative Opioid Consumption After Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Comparison of Three Surgical Approaches. J Arthroplasty. 2019;34(11):2676-2680. doi:10.1016/j.arth.2019.05.057
8. Fraval A, Duncan S, Murray T, Duggan J, Tirosh O, Tran P. OBTAIN E: outcome benefits of tranexamic acid in hip arthroplasty with enoxaparin: a randomised double-blinded controlled trial. Hip Int. 2019;29(3):239-244. doi:10.1177/1120700018780125
9. Fraval A, Effeney P, Fiddelaers L, Smith B, Towell B, Tran P. OBTAIN A: Outcome Benefits of Tranexamic Acid in Hip Arthroplasty. A Randomized Double-Blinded Controlled Trial. J Arthroplasty. 2017;32(5):1516-1519. doi:10.1016/j.arth.2016.11.045

See all of the Department’s subspecialty teams, or read more about the Department’s research.