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.

Professor
Chris Colton
EducationNottingham High School

Worksop College

St Thomas' Hospital, London
Medical career
ProfessionOrthopedic Surgery
InstitutionsRoyal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London

Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham

University of Nottingham
Sub-specialtiesTrauma surgery
Paediatrics

Training and early career

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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

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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.[1] 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

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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

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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.[1]

Medical education

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Colton has published articles and chapters in over 70 journals[11][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]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Bone & Joint 360 Author Feature". Bone & Joint Publishing. April 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Archives". British Orthopaedic Association. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  3. ^ "AO Presidents". www.aofoundation.org. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  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. doi:10.1097/00005373-199204000-00006. ISSN 0022-5282. PMID 1569616.
  5. ^ Ed W Angus Wallace, John M Rowles, Christopher L Colton (17 June 1995). "Management of Disasters and their Aftermath". BMJ. 310 (6994): 1615. doi:10.1136/bmj.310.6994.1615. ISSN 0959-8138. S2CID 72711560.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Rowles, John (1992). "Impact Biomechanics of the Pelvis and Lower Limbs. in Occupants Involved in an Impact Aircraft Accident". University of Nottingham eTheses. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  7. ^ Brownson, Peter (1993). "The brace position for passenger aircraft: a biomechanical evaluation" (PDF). University of Nottingham eTheses. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 February 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  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. doi:10.3357/AMHP.5030.2018. PMID 29673436 – via ResearchGate.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Davies, Jan. "The Head Injury Criteria and Future Accident Investigations" (PDF). International Society of Air Safety Investigators. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  11. ^ a b Colton, C. L. (1 January 1973). "Fractures of the olecranon in adults: classification and management". Injury. 5 (2): 121–129. doi:10.1016/S0020-1383(73)80088-9. ISSN 0020-1383. PMID 4774763.
  12. ^ Scott, Doug (2017). The Ogre: Biography of a mountain and the dramatic story of the first ascent. Vertebrate Publishing. ISBN 978-1911342793.
  13. ^ Wilson, Christopher (2003). The Windsor Knot: Charles, Camilla, and the Legacy of Diana. Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0806523866.
  14. ^ Pittam, David (4 August 2017). "Cerebal palsy patient who now works at QMC thanks doctors for years of care". nottinghampost. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Surgeon keeps the royal presshounds at bay". The Times. 24 September 1990.
  16. ^ Haslam, Ron (2008). Rocket Men. Bantam Press. p. 260. ISBN 978-0553819366.
  17. ^ "White Man's Burden". Sunday Telegraph Magazine. 17 June 1995.
  18. ^ "Health reforms attacked by bishop as top surgeon quits". The Independent. 3 July 1995. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  19. ^ Freedom of City of London certificate R.CO.CO.12.9.2007
  20. ^ Turner, Camilla (24 March 2015). "Labour accused of using 'inappropriate' election poster image of potential 'victim of child abuse'". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  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. 75 (6): 623. doi:10.1002/bjs.1800750647. ISSN 1365-2168.
  22. ^ Colton, Christopher L. (1 January 1988). "An historical perspective of fracture surgery". Current Orthopaedics. 2 (1): 28–31. doi:10.1016/0268-0890(88)90055-2. ISSN 0268-0890.
  23. ^ Colton, C. (1 April 2013). "Orthopaedic challenges in Ancient Egypt". Bone & Joint 360. 2 (2): 2–7. doi:10.1302/2048-0105.22.360124. ISSN 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). 79 (4): 377. doi:10.1002/bjs.1800790446. ISSN 1365-2168.
  25. ^ "AO Surgery Reference". Archived from the original on 20 March 2006.