Salindi Herath​

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Project title

Influence of patient and surgical variability in the proximal tibia following a total knee replacement surgery

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Supervisors

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Professor Mark Taylor, Medical Device Research Institute, College of Science and Engineering,Flinders University

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Dr. David Hobbs, Medical Device Research Institute, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University

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Associate Professor Domenic Thewlis, Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Adelaide

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Dr. Christopher Wilson, Consulting Orthopaedic Surgeon, Flinders Medical Centre

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Salindi completed a Bachelor of Science with a major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2017 at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. In the final year of her undergraduate degree, she decided that she wanted to pursue a masters degree in a health related field and came across Biomedical Engineering as a field. She got accepted into the Master of Biomedical Engineering Science program at Flinders University and switched into the Master of Biomedical Engineering program after a year, completing the degree in 2021. In her final year of her Master’s degree whilst doing a thesis project, she discovered that she enjoyed research and became interested in pursuing a PhD. After meeting with Mark, she became interested in the project which uses biomechanics to gain insight into a clinically relevant topic.

 

Salindi’s PhD investigates the relationship between patient and surgical factors and bone remodelling in the proximal tibia following a total knee replacement surgery. One of the most common modes of failure of a cemented total knee replacement surgery is aseptic loosening of the tibial tray which occurs secondary to bone loss. Although it has been shown that there are changes in the bone around the implant after a total knee replacement surgery, it is unknown what the knee joint contact forces are which could be driving these changes. Her project uses motion capture in combination with musculoskeletal modelling to estimate the knee joint contact forces and DEXA scans to measure the bone mineral density pre-operatively and then at 3, 6, and 12 months post-operatively. Salindi aims to provide more insight into the relationship between patient and surgical factors and bone changes after a total knee replacement surgery.