Dr. Joel Matta Biography
Anterior Hip Foundation Founder, Dr. Joel Matta is a leader in the field for treating, evaluating, diagnosing and treating complex orthopaedic hip disorders.
He has been engaged in pioneering work to advance and teach anterior approach hip surgery since the mid-1990s, having learned about the method in France. He was interested in the ability of the approach to reduce the likelihood of dislocation.
Since that time, he has further refined the surgical approach to ensure that the procedure is more repeatable and easily adopted, while reducing error and complications by both high- and low-volume surgeons. To achieve this, he has focused not only on teaching the technique to surgeons in the USA and internationally, but also developing the right tools to facilitate the approach.
His innovations include the HANA table, an orthopaedic designed to help surgeons gain good visibility and access during anterior approach hip replacement surgery. It features leg spars that allow for hyperextension, abduction, adduction and external rotation of the legs. Its fully radiolucent carbon fiber construction enables unobstructed intraoperative imaging.
He has also designed orthopedic products including, fracture fixation implants, orthopedic surgical instruments, primary and revision hip replacement prostheses. Additionally, he has promoted the use of imaging technology during surgery for real time feedback to make it possible to measure leg lengths and cup orientation accurately.
When Dr. Matta initially taught the anterior approach, less than one percent of surgeons were using the anterior approach. Today, more than 50% of percent of surgeons, especially younger surgeons, are using the anterior approach technique.
