Peter Gordon Lawrence Essex-Lopresti (1916 – 1951)
Born 7th April 1916
1937 Qualified medicine, the London Hospital (now Royal London)
1938 Qualified DA, anaesthetic training
Resident Anaesthetist at the London
1940 Commenced training in orthopedic surgery
1942 Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
1943 Surgical specialist in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) airborne division, attained rank of major
1946 ‘The Hazards of Parachuting‘ chronicled the parachute-related injuries with 20,777 parachute jumps made by men in the Sixth British Airborne Division. Essex-Lopresti defined three phases of the jump: Exit plane; Open chute and Landing. He provided recommendations paratroopers could employ to avoid injury included: extending the neck to avoid hitting the forehead trauma on exiting the plane and keeping legs together when landing to prevent ankle injuries
‘The Mechanism, Reduction Technique, and Results in Fractures of Os Calcis.’
1952 published “Fractures of the radial head with distal radio-ulnar dislocation; report of two cases”
An Essex-Lopresti injury is a fracture of the radial head with concomitant dislocation of the distal radioulnar joint and rupture of the interosseous membrane
Named after Essex-Lopresti due to the number of important observations about the injury
Poor outcomes have been associated with this rare injury if the dislocation of the distal radioulnar joint is missed in the acute setting
Died suddenly at his home in Olton (13th June 1951) at the age of 36, following an acute myocardial infarction, leaving a wife and two children.