About Sam Rajaratnam

Mr Rajaratnam is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon – Knee Specialist.
Mr. Sam Rajaratnam FRCS (Tr. & Ortho) is one of the leading Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons in the UK specialising in all aspects of knee surgery. He is the Consultant Orthopaedic Knee Surgeon with his outpatient clinics at the Cleveland Clinic Portland Place outpatient centre in Marylebone and at 33 Grosvenor Place, Belgravia (The main Cleveland Clinic hospital site). His operating theatre is at the Cleveland Clinic hospital site.
 
Mr Rajaratnam also treats patients at the Horder Centre in Crowborough ( a centre of excellence for orthopaedic care – with an outstanding CQC grading), where he treats the majority of his patients from Kent, Surrey and Sussex. 
 
He is recognised throughout the UK as a leading knee specialist and has three distinct areas of interest within Knee Surgery.

Joint Replacement Surgery

Mr. Rajaratnam performs amongst the highest number of successful knee replacement operations on the UK National Joint Registry each year (approximately 400-500 annually) with excellent outcomes.
(Source: National Joint Register: http://www.njrcentre.org.uk)
 
The following graph depicts the Revision rates for his primary surgery documented in the National Joint Registry, and shows extremely low revision rates in joint replacements performed by him personally over the last 5 years.
(Published September 2018, NJR)
 
He has developed an excellent team where the surgeon, anaesthetist, nurse, physiotherapist and rehabilitation therapist working synergistically with the patient to optimise their functional recovery in the hospital and outpatient setting, thus achieving faster and better function following joint replacement surgery to the knee.

Soft Tissue Knee Reconstruction

Mr. Rajaratnam is a fellowship trained Soft Tissue Knee surgeon and regularly treats professional and amateur athletes with soft tissue injuries to their knee. Whilst a number of sporting injuries can be treated conservatively with a careful rehabilitative programme, some injuries require surgery to repair/reconstruct tissues.  He works closely with some of the best sports medicine specialists and private physiotherapists in the UK in his capacity as Medical Director HCA (Commercial) and Consultant Orthopaedic surgeon.
 
Mr.Rajaratnam performs over 100 ACL reconstructions each year as day case procedures where patients are able to be discharged home 4-6 hours after their reconstructive surgery.  He also performs numerous arthroscopic procedures to repair and deal with cartilage defects within the knee and uses some of the latest technology to optimise results.
 
Other soft tissue operations regularly performed include Patella realignment and stabilisation procedures , Revision ligament reconstructions and multiligament knee reconstructive procedures.

Biological and Stem Cell procedures of the knee

Biological procedures are likely to improve over the next few years and may become the answer to a number of knee injuries.
Saying that, there are a number of unproven techniques currently being widely promoted to treat various pathologies within the knee……and some of these may not work or may even be harmful.  Whilst Mr. Rajaratnam in keen on biological repair in the knee, he is extremely careful to practice “evidence based medicine”.
 
Mr. Rajaratnam is a member of the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) and is exploring the use of Stem cell procedures for the treatment of discrete and contained cartilage defects of the knee, and such procedures are discussed in a multidisciplinary team environment with colleagues and carefully monitored for their success.

Training and Awards

Mr Rajaratnam trained at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital in London and qualified with a First Class degree in anatomy and an MBBS in 1997. He trained via the Royal College of Surgeons, England at numerous centres of excellence in the U.K. and then Australia.

 

Sam was awarded the “Walter Mercer Gold Medal” for the best performance throughout Great Britain and Ireland in the final FRCS Orthopaedics examination in 2006.

 

He was the British Orthopaedic Association Ambassador to Hong Kong in 2007 and worked in Sydney Australia at some of the world’s best knee injury units before being appointed Consultant Surgeon in the U.K. in 2008, and now enjoys an excellent international reputation as a leading knee surgeon in London and the South East and a key opinion leader in his field.

Sub-specialities

MR RAJARATNAM SPECIALISES IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

  • complex knee surgery including primary and revision joint replacement
  • knee ligament reconstruction
  • cartilage repair of the knee
  • meniscal repair
  • minimally invasive knee surgery
  • complex multi ligament injury to the knee
  • day case knee ligament surgery
  • sports injuries
  • knee Surgery

Research interests

MR RAJARATNAM PURSUES RESEARCH IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

  • cartilage repair techniques in the knees
  • advances in modern knee replacements
  • knee injury and ligament reconstruction
  • rapid recovery programmes following knee surgery

Current memberships

MR RAJARATNAM’S CURRENT MEMBERSHIPS INCLUDE:

  • Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
  • Member of the British Orthopaedic Association
  • British Orthopaedic Association of Knee Surgeons UK
  • Member of South East Group of Knee Surgeons

Further information