Advances in Medical Technology have made possible a variety of options for patients who need a hip replacement surgery. The risks and benefits unique in each option are relevant to any orthopedic recommendation. As the number of patients who have received the artificial implant increased worldwide, so are the concern and complaints against such implants. It has been in recent news that
India State files complaint against DePuy with Mumbai police.
Hip Replacement Devices
Currently, there are four devices available for total hip implant replacement according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website:
Metal-on-Polyethylene: The ball is made of metal and the socket is made of plastic (polyethylene) or has a plastic lining.
Ceramic-on-Polyethylene: The ball is made of ceramic and the socket is made of plastic (polyethylene) or has a plastic lining.
Metal-on-Metal: The ball and socket are both made of metal.
Ceramic-on-Ceramic: The ball is made of ceramic and the socket has a ceramic lining.
Hip Replacement or Hip Arthroplasty was an invention of Sir John Charnley, an English orthopedic surgeon, in 1962. It wasnt until seven years later that the total hip replacement was done in the U.S.
Traditionally, an implant system consists of a plastic cup (socket), a metal ball (femoral head), and a metal stem that is attached to the shaft of the femur. Since the plastic socket wears away easily, an all metal device made of cobalt-chrome material was introduced in the market. Shortly after it was introduced, it became popular as it lasts longer than the plastic socket.
According to an article in The New York Times, metal-on-metal devices make up one-third of the approximately 250,000 hip replacements done yearly in the U.S. Recently, a growing concern over the safety of these all-metal implant has pervaded the country. . It is further heightened by reports of the devices rising failure rate, specifically the DePuy ASR Hip Implant. A UK joint registry noted that the all-metal device had failed in about one-third of the patients monitored over a long time. This led to a voluntary recall of the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System on August 24, 2010 as announced by the U.S. FDA.
Many patients who were previously unaware of the issue had taken lightly the symptoms following their hip replacement procedure. They are now beginning to see the magnitude of the situation and have started to take active involvement. The DePuy ASR lawsuit filed had grown. {While the British data may not be directly representative of that in the U.S., it prompted the responsible agencies to acknowledge and act on the issue.
