Degree project on hip-replacement technology takes first prize in mechanicalengineering, writes Dick Ahlstrom.
A Cork Institute of Technology student has been declared the outright winner of the Queen's Silver Jubilee Institution of Mechanical Engineers prize for best engineering degree project in Ireland and Britain.
Niamh Thompson, a final year degree student in CIT's Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, entered the UK competition after claiming top prize here for the best mechanical engineering degree project. She faced competition involving the best projects presented by students from Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland.
"I am absolutely thrilled," Niamh said after last weekend's competition. "It is a fantastic achievement." She praised her supervisor, Dr Keith Bryan, who accompanied her to the event, and others in her department at CIT.
Niamh, who hails from Coolyduff, Inniscarra, Co Cork, featured in a Science Today report published last month. It described her research into how surgical procedures commonly followed during total hip replacement could inadvertently contribute to the premature failure of the hip joint. Her research focused on the cement used to fix replacement hip joints into position at the top of the leg.
The competition involved presenting her work to a distinguished panel of judges at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers headquarters in Birdcage Walk, London. She claimed first place for CIT, with students from the University of Nottingham, Imperial College London and the University of Bristol taking second and joint third places respectively.
Niamh's research project is in conjunction with Orthopaedic Surgeons at Cork University Hospital and St Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital, Cork.
About one million hip joint replacement operations take place worldwide each year. Medical surveys have shown that the great majority of failed operations, up to 80 per cent, are caused by "aseptic loosening" of the implant, requiring revision surgery to fix the prothesis back into position.
Niamh decided to study factors that contributed to the failure of implanted joints. The special bone cement that holds the prothesis in place was a particular focus and impairment of its adhesive qualities caused by the use during surgery of hydrogen peroxide.
This antiseptic is used in surgical settings around the world. Niamh's tests showed that it could weaken the initial fixation of the cement, influencing its long term properties.
Her research approach was enough to convince the judges that she was the top student entry for 2004.