Alan Graham Apley FRCS (10 November 1914,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

– 20 December 1996) was a British

orthopaedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

and educator known for his textbook, ''Apley's System of Orthopaedics and Fractures'', and for the

Apley grind test The Apley grind test or Apley test is used to evaluate individuals for problems in the meniscus of the knee. The Apley grind test has a reported sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 87%. Description In order to perform the test, the patient lie ...

in meniscal injury.

Biography

Alan Apley was born in London in 1914, the youngest son of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrants.Alan Graham Apley Obituary. ''BMJ'' 1997; 314:981 (29 March)
/ref> He studied medicine at

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College London ...

, qualifying

MBBS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

in 1938. He became a

Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...

in 1941. He served in the Army Medical Corps in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After completing his training, he became a consultant at the Rowley Bristow Orthopaedic Hospital,

Pyrford Pyrford is a village in the borough of Woking in Surrey, England. It is on the left bank of the River Wey, around east of the town of Woking and just south of West Byfleet; the M25 motorway is northeast of the edge of the former parish. The ...

, where he started his FRCS course in 1948. The "Pyrford Postgraduate Course", which became known as the "Apley Course", continued twice yearly for many years, with over 5,000 trainees attending them. Satellite courses were also set up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, also running for over 15 years. Notes from this course were turned into a textbook, Apley's ''System of Orthopaedics and Fractures'', which was first published in 1959,Seyed Behrooz Mostofi. ''Who's Who in Orthopaedics'', pages 13-15. Springer, 2005. and is now in its ninth edition. He designed the first purpose-built

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

in the south of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey St. Peter's Hospital is an NHS district general hospital in Chertsey, Surrey, England. It has 400 beds and a wide range of acute care services, including an Accident & Emergency department. It is located between Woking and Chertsey near junct ...

. He became director of orthopaedics at

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

in 1972, and was elected to the council of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

in 1973. He was Honorary Treasurer of the

British Orthopaedic Association The British Orthopaedic Association is a professional association in Britain for doctors who specialize in orthopaedic surgery. History The British Orthopaedic Association was founded in 1918. One of the founders was Harry Platt, who went on to s ...

from 1972 to 1977, and received an Honorary Fellowship in 1985. He became editor of '' The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery'' in 1984. He delivered the

Bradshaw Lecture The Bradshaw Lectures are prestigious lectureships given at the invitation of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. List of past lecturers at Royal College of Physicians List of past lecturers at Royal C ...

at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1984 and was awarded the Honorary Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons. He died in 1996. A trauma care/orthopaedics ward at St Thomas' has been named after him.

Biography

References

See also