Chris Colton Explained

Chris Colton
Honorific Prefix:Professor
Education:Nottingham High School
Worksop College
St Thomas' Hospital, London
Work Institutions:Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London
Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham
University of Nottingham
Honorific Suffix:MB, BS, LRCP, FRCS, FRCSEd(Orth)
Profession:Orthopedic Surgery
Specialism:Trauma surgery
Paediatrics

Christopher Lewis Colton (born in September 1937) is an English orthopaedic surgeon and Professor Emeritus in Orthopaedic and Accident Surgery at the University of Nottingham. He is a past president of both the British Orthopaedic Association and of the AO Foundation.

Training and early career

Colton qualified in medicine and surgery in 1960, studying at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1963. He pursued a career as an orthopaedic surgeon, studying in Bristol, at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London, and at Dala Orthopaedic Hospital at Kano in Northern Nigeria during the Biafran civil war.[1]

Surgical career

He was appointed as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Nottingham in 1973. He was awarded an honorary title in Orthopaedic and Accident Surgery by the University of Nottingham in 1993, in recognition of his research and teaching in musculoskeletal trauma. He served as president of the British Orthopaedic Association in 1995.[2] He held the presidency of the AO Foundation, a not-for-profit research and treatment centre for muscular trauma patients, from 1996 to 1998.[3]

Air crash injuries

Colton treated several casualties of the Kegworth air disaster in 1989 (in which a British Midland flight crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway) and he subsequently investigated the nature of the crash injuries.[4] [5] This project led to the first research-based definition of the passenger's brace position.[6] [7] [8] He is a member of the International Board for Research into Aircraft Crash Events (IBRACE).[9] [10]

Trauma surgery

Colton specialised in the treatment of skeletal injuries in both adults and children, with an emphasis on post-trauma reconstruction. He introduced the recognised Colton Classification of Olecranon Fractures in 1973.[11] He assisted his colleague Robert Mulholland to treat mountaineer Doug Scott, three weeks after he had badly fractured both legs in 1977 near the summit of Baintha Brakk in the Himalayas.[12] In September 1990, Colton, with his colleague John Webb, performed a bone graft on Prince Charles to restructure his fractured right arm following a polo accident.[13] [14] The operation was covered by The Times newspaper in a front-page article.[15]

In 1991, he operated on motorcycling world champion Ron Haslam, who had sustained an open fracture of his leg in a racing crash. When Haslam had fully recovered, he took Colton around the Donington Park race track on the back of a Norton motorbike.[16] After Kenyan conservationist Richard Leakey was critically injured when the light aircraft he was piloting crashed in Kenya in 1993, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands paid for Colton to fly out to Nairobi to assess the treatment options. After ten operations in Nottingham, attempting to reconstruct his crushed legs, Colton eventually had to amputate both of Leakey's lower legs.[17]

Colton retired from surgical practice in 1997, partly in response to NHS healthcare reforms with which he disagreed.[18] Colton was granted Freedom of the City of London in 2007.[19] In 2015 he criticised the Labour Party's use of a fracture X-ray in its General Election campaign.[20] The "Chris Colton Trauma Lecture" is delivered each year at the University of Nottingham's Fracture Forum.

Medical education

Colton has published articles and chapters in over 70 journals[21] [22] [23] and books, including co-authoring the medical reference book, Atlas of Orthopaedic Surgical Approaches.[24]

He was Executive Editor of the AO Surgery Reference online guide for orthopaedic surgeons 2005–2011.[25]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: April 2013. Bone & Joint 360 Author Feature. 23 April 2020. Bone & Joint Publishing. en.
  2. Web site: Archives. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200919221545/https://www.boa.ac.uk/about-us/history-of-the-boa/archives.html . 19 September 2020 . 2020-01-21. British Orthopaedic Association.
  3. Web site: AO Presidents. www.aofoundation.org. en. 2020-01-21.
  4. Rowles. J. M.. Kirsh. G.. Macey. A. C.. Colton. C. L.. April 1992. The use of injury scoring in the evaluation of the Kegworth M1 aircrash. The Journal of Trauma. 32. 4. 441–447. 10.1097/00005373-199204000-00006. 0022-5282. 1569616.
  5. Ed W Angus Wallace, John M Rowles, Christopher L Colton. 1995-06-17. Management of Disasters and their Aftermath. BMJ. en. 310. 6994. 1615. 10.1136/bmj.310.6994.1615. 72711560 . 0959-8138.
  6. Web site: Impact Biomechanics of the Pelvis and Lower Limbs. in Occupants Involved in an Impact Aircraft Accident. Rowles. John. 1992. University of Nottingham eTheses. live. 23 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200823083911/http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11195/ . 23 August 2020 .
  7. Web site: The brace position for passenger aircraft: a biomechanical evaluation.. Brownson. Peter. 1993. University of Nottingham eTheses. live. 23 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20170207113217/http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12104/1/310893.pdf . 7 February 2017 .
  8. Civil Aviation Authority. 1995. A Study of Aircraft Brace Positions for Impact. CAA Paper. 95004.
  9. Davies, J. M., Wallace, W.A., Colton, C.L., & Yoo, K.I.. May 2018. Two Aviation Accident Investigation Questionnaires for Passenger and Crew Survival Factors and Injuries. Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance. 89. 5. 483–486. 10.3357/AMHP.5030.2018. 29673436. ResearchGate.
  10. Web site: The Head Injury Criteria and Future Accident Investigations. Davies. Jan. International Society of Air Safety Investigators. live. 23 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200725113544/https://www.isasi.org/Documents/library/technical-papers/2019/Tues/Parallel/1.%20The%20Head%20Injury%20Criteria%20and%20Future%20Accident%20Investigations.pdf . 25 July 2020 .
  11. Colton. C. L.. 1973-01-01. Fractures of the olecranon in adults: classification and management. Injury. English. 5. 2. 121–129. 10.1016/S0020-1383(73)80088-9. 0020-1383. 4774763.
  12. Book: Scott, Doug. The Ogre: Biography of a mountain and the dramatic story of the first ascent. Vertebrate Publishing. 2017. 978-1911342793.
  13. Book: Wilson, Christopher. The Windsor Knot: Charles, Camilla, and the Legacy of Diana. Citadel Press. 2003. 978-0806523866.
  14. Web site: Cerebal palsy patient who now works at QMC thanks doctors for years of care. Pittam. David. 2017-08-04. nottinghampost. 2020-01-21.
  15. News: Surgeon keeps the royal presshounds at bay. 24 September 1990. The Times.
  16. Book: Haslam, Ron. Rocket Men. Bantam Press. 2008. 978-0553819366. 260.
  17. News: White Man's Burden. 17 June 1995. Sunday Telegraph Magazine.
  18. Web site: Health reforms attacked by bishop as top surgeon quits. 1995-07-03. The Independent. en. 2020-01-21.
  19. Freedom of City of London certificate R.CO.CO.12.9.2007
  20. News: Labour accused of using 'inappropriate' election poster image of potential 'victim of child abuse'. Turner. Camilla. The Daily Telegraph. 2015-03-24. 2020-01-21. en-GB. 0307-1235.
  21. Johnson. J. R.. 1988. Orthopaedics. The principles and practice of musculoskeletal surgery. S. P. F. Hughes, M. K. D'A. Benson and C. L. Colton. 250 × 185 mm. Pp. 1077. Illustrated. 1987. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. £125.00. British Journal of Surgery. en. 75. 6. 623. 10.1002/bjs.1800750647. 1365-2168.
  22. Colton. Christopher L.. 1988-01-01. An historical perspective of fracture surgery. Current Orthopaedics. English. 2. 1. 28–31. 10.1016/0268-0890(88)90055-2. 0268-0890.
  23. Colton. C.. 2013-04-01. Orthopaedic challenges in Ancient Egypt. Bone & Joint 360. 2. 2. 2–7. 10.1302/2048-0105.22.360124. 2048-0091.
  24. Stableforth. P. G.. 1992. Atlas of orthopaedic surgical approaches. C. L. Colton and A. J. Hall. 286 × 225 mm. Pp. 216 + viii. Illustrated. 1991. Oxford: Butterworth-Heineniann. £80. BJS (British Journal of Surgery). en. 79. 4. 377. 10.1002/bjs.1800790446. 1365-2168.
  25. Web site: AO Surgery Reference. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20060320042026/http://www.aofoundation.org:80/wps/portal/surgery . 20 March 2006 .

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