Mr Simon Talbot

Orthopaedic Surgeon

Simon is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon specialising in the treatment of knee problems.

He completed his medical degree from Otago Medical School in New Zealand in 1994, and his specialty training as an orthopaedic surgeon from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2004. In 2006 and 2007 he undertook additional training in knee surgery in Melbourne (with John Bartlett and Hayden Morris) and Belgium (with Jan Victor and Johannes Bellemans).

Since 2007, Simon has consulted at Suite 1/210 Burgundy St in Heidelberg. He shared the rooms initially with Mr John Bartlett. In 2014, Mr Bartlett retired from clinical work and handed over the ongoing care of his patients to Simon.

Simon is also committed to his public appointment at Western Health, working at Western, Williamstown and Sunshine hospitals. In public he specialises in complex knee revision surgery and the reconstruction of traumatic knee injuries.

He places particular emphasis on the importance of open and honest communication between himself and his patients. Clinic appointments are spaced to allow time to talk about all available options while minimising the chance of keeping patients waiting.

The majority of his practice involves the treatment of knee injuries and arthritis affecting the knees. If surgery is required, it will be performed at Warringal Private Hospital. Warringal is a fully-equipped hospital including an intensive care unit. My anaesthetists and surgical assistants are all highly-trained and experienced. I use the latest equipment, techniques and technology.

Common operations performed include:

• Knee arthroscopy (keyhole surgery)
• Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction
• Patella stabilisation
• Total knee replacement
• Partial knee replacement
• Revision knee replacement

Simon bases his work on the highest professional and ethical standards. He is a member of several professional organisations including the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, the Australian Orthopaedic Association, the Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association and the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science. Simon is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. He has a strong interest in research as a way of both constantly auditing and improving results and a way of contributing to future advances in orthopaedic surgery. Current research projects are focused on improving the positioning of knee replacements with individualised three-dimensional planning, medial pivot knee replacements and measuring patient function after knee replacement.

Work History

Mr. Simon Talbot finished his specialist orthopaedic training in 2004. Simon then undertook further training in knee surgery with fellowships in Melbourne (with John Bartlett and Hayden Morris) and Belgium. When John Bartlett retired, he handed over the ongoing care of his patients to Simon.

Simon performs surgery on a wide range of knee conditions including arthroscopic surgery, cruciate ligament reconstruction, patella stabilisations and knee joint replacement surgery. He performs over 500 knee operations each year, including more than 200 knee replacements and 100 ACL reconstructions.

Since completing his training in 2004, he has worked at the following hospitals:

• 2005
  Grey District Hospital, West Coast, New Zealand
• 2006
  Melbourne Knee Fellowship
  Mr John Bartlett, Mr Hayden Morris
• 2006 – ongoing
  Western Health, Footscray, Sunshine and Williamstown
• 2007
  Belgium Fellowship, Leuven
  Prof J. Bellemans, Dr J. Victor, Dr K. Brabants
• 2007 -2009
  Southern Health, Monash Clayton and Moorabin
• 2008 -2011
  Alfred Health, Sandringham Hospital
• 2007 – ongoing
  Warringal Private Hospital, Heidelberg
• 2011 – 2014
  St Vincent’s Private Hospital Kew

Publications

• Femoral rotational asymmetry is a common anatomical variant. Clinical Anatomy 31(4). January 2018
• Averaging rotational landmarks during total knee arthroplasty reduces component malrotation caused by femoral asymmetry. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research12(1). May 2017
• Referencing the sulcus line of the trochlear groove and removing intraoperative parallax errors improve femoral component rotation in total knee arthroplasty. Knee Surgery Sports Traumatology Arthroscopy25(9).  June 2015
• The sulcus line of the trochlear groove is more accurate than Whiteside’s Line for determining femoral component rotation. Knee Surgery Sports Traumatology Arthroscopy23(11).  July 2014
• Bilateral peroneal compartment syndrome after horse riding. Am J Emerg Med2009 Sep;27(7): 901.e3-5.
• Use of a New High-Activity Arthroplasty Score to Assess Function of Young Patients with Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty. The Journal of Arthroplasty. Vol 25, Issue 2, February 2010, Pages 268–273.
• The Anterior Surface of the Femur as a New Landmark for Femoral Component Rotation in Total Knee Arthroplasty. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy. March 2008, Volume 16, Issue 3, pp 258-262.
• A novel web-support intervention to promote recovery following Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction: A pilot randomised controlled trial. Physiotherapyin Sport 27 (Supplement C):29-37. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ptsp.2017.06.001 

Presentations

• Forever Active Forum Melbourne 2018: Medial pivot anatomy
• Forever Active Forum Melbourne 2018: Medial pivot knee replacement techniques
• Forever Active Forum Melbourne 2018: Alignment techniques in knee replacement
• COKS Noosa 2017: Femoral Rotational Asymmetry
• IHKS Jakarta 2017: Femoral Rotational Asymmetry
• IHKS Jakarta 2017: Roux-Goldthwaite Procedure in Adults
• IHKS Jakarta 2017: Reducing femoral component malrotation during knee replacement
• EFORT Vienna 2016: Combining the sulcus line and the posterior condylar axis reduces femoral malrotation (registrar presented)
• COMOC Cape Town 2016: Combining the sulcus line of the trochlear groove and posterior condylar axis reduces femoral malrotation in TKA (registrar presented)
• APOA Melbourne 2016: Femoral rotation is the key
• APOA Melbourne 2016: Combining the sulcus line of the trochlear groove and posterior condylar axis reduces femoral malrotation in TKA
• AOA Melbourne 2014: Dorsal blocking wire improves the stability of K-wire construct for distal radius fractures
• AOA Brisbane 2015: Combining the sulcus line and posterior condylar axis reduces femoral malrotation in total knee arthroplasty
• AKS Byron Bay 2015: Combining the sulcus line and posterior condylar axis reduces femoral malrotation in total knee arthroplasty
• AKS Melbourne 2014: Correcting parallax errors to improve femoral component rotation in knee replacement
• ISTA Kyoto 2014: Correcting parallax errors to improve femoral component rotation in knee replacement
• AOA October 2014: Correcting parallax errors to improve femoral component rotation in knee replacement
• EFORT London 2014: Correcting parallax errors to improve femoral component rotation in total knee arthroplasty
• ESSKA Amsterdam 2014: The Sulcus Line of the Trochlear Groove Produces Accurate Femoral Component Rotation in a Large Clinical Series (Poster)
• ESSKA Amsterdam 2014: The Sulcus Line of the Trochlear Groove is More Accurate than Whiteside's Line (Poster)
• ESSKA Amsterdam 2014: Current Techniques for Determining Femoral Component Rotation During Total Knee Replacement Are Prone to Unnecessary Geometrical Errors (Poster)
• AOA Victoria Branch meeting Lorne 2014: Correcting parallax errors to improve femoral component rotation in total knee arthroplasty
• AOA Victoria Branch meeting Lorne 2014: The sulcus line of the trochlear groove produces accurate femoral component rotation in a large clinical series
• APOSSM meeting Christchurch Aug 2006: Assessment of femoral rotation using computer navigation
• NZOA 2003: Six to eleven-year follow-up of 151 THR using ABG1 femoral stems.
• NZOA 2003: Use of a High-Level Function Scoring System to Assess Comparative Function of Young Patients with Hip and Knee Replacements
• NZOA 1999: Review of periarticular tibial fractures treated with Ilizarov fixation
• NZOA 1999: Mean 4-year follow-up of 151 ABG femoral stems

Research Projects and Pioneering Techniques

• Development of a patient outcomes measure to assess the results of hip and knee replacement in highly functioning young patients. The resulting HAAS (High Activity Arthroplasty Score) has been translated into four languages.
• Improvement of the accuracy of positioning of knee replacements. Identified an error in the prior techniques for judging the rotational position of the femoral component of knee replacements. Developed Sulcus Line technique for measuring the position more accurately during surgery. The associated device has been patented and is in production (http://www.enztec.com/enztec-orthopaedic-instruments/knee-solutions/stag/). This has led to multiple publications and presentations and improved the accuracy of surgeons performing knee replacement.
• Currently assessing the clinical results from a large trial using a new generation of knee replacements known as medial pivot knees. The results are showing improved knee stability compared to previous designs and higher rates of patient satisfaction.
• Total knee replacement instrument design and assessment. Provided surgeon consultation to Advanced Surgical Design and Manufacture (ASDM, Sydney) in production of a completely new instrument set for the Active knee replacement.

Invited Conference Faculty Member

• Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (Melbourne, 2016)
• Indonesian Hip Knee Society (Jakarta, 2017)
• Forever Active Forum on the Future of Knee Replacements (Melbourne, 2018)

Courses & Conferences

• Australian Orthopaedic Association Victorian branch meeting, Lorne, 2014
• EFORT 2014, London, UK
• International Society for Technology in Arthroplasty (ISTA) 2014, Kyoto, Japan
• Australian Orthopaedic Association ASM, Melbourne, Australia
• Australian Knee Society 2014, Melbourne
• Basic AO course, Auckland 1999
• Smith and Nephew Winter Meeting, Surfers Paradise 2002
• Advanced AO Course2002, Queenstown
• NZOA Conference 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003
• NZ/Australia Foot and Ankle Meeting2004, Queenstown
• APOSSM 2006
• Sydney CME April 2006
• Exeter Hip Arthroplasty CourseMay 2007, Exeter, UK 
• ISAKOS FlorenceJune 2007, Italy 
• Exeter Hip SymposiumMay 2007
• Innovative Concepts in Knee Joint SurgeryMarch 2007, Munster
• Hip and Knee Revision SymposiumOctober 2009, Gold Coast
• AOA Hobart 2008, Sydney 2012
• ISAKOS Osaka2009, Japan
• ISAKOS Rio de Janeiro2011, Brazil
• Melbourne Knee Fellowship Conference, 2011

Continuing Medical Education Recent Conferences Attended

• Combined Orthopaedic Knee Society (Noosa, 2017)
• Indonesian Hip Knee Society (Jakarta, 2017)
• ISAKOS (Shanghai, 2017)
• Australian Arthroplasty Association (Noosa, 2017)
• Australian Orthopaedic Association (Cairns, 2016)
• Australian Arthroplasty Society (Sydney, 2016)
• Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (Melbourne, 2016)
• Australian Knee Society (Byron Bay, 2015)
• Australian Orthopaedic Association (Brisbane, 2015)
• ImplantCast meeting (Mallorca, 2015)
• Australian Knee Society (Melbourne, 2015)
• ISAKOS (Rio de Janeiro, 2015)
• EFORT (London 2014)
• International Society Technology Arthroplasty (Kyoto, 2014)

Education

• St Andrew’s College, Christchurch 1983-88
• University of Otago Medical School 1989-94

Professional Organisations

• Australian Orthopaedic Association
• Australian Knee Society
• Australian Arthroplasty Society
• Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association
• European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy

"Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner."