DePuy Hip Replacement Pulled from U.S. Market as UK Issues Alert for All Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacements

Metal-on-metal (MoM) hip replacements are in the news lately as DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. pulls its DePuy ASR® XL Acetabular Head System from the market in the United States and the United Kingdom issues an alert regarding all MoM hip implants.

According to the New York Times, the manufacturer of the DePuy ASR total hip replacement prosthetic is finally stopping sales of the defective implant here in the United States, five months after pulling it from the Australian market due to data associating the implant with higher rates of failure, sometimes occurring only shortly after surgery.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration has received more than 300 reports of DePuy ASR failure, including about 90% of cases where the patient needed surgery to replace the defective medical device. There are likely a number of cases never reported to the FDA. Many of the DePuy ASR patients who suffered severe pain, injury, disability and repeated operations after their hip replacement surgery are now seeking to file a DePuy lawsuit.

According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), nearly 200,000 people undergo total hip replacement surgery every year in the U.S. and there is increasing concern over metal-on-metal prosthetics. About one third of all hip replacements use metal-on-metal implants. These devices consist of a ball and corresponding socket both made of metals such as cobalt or chromium, developed to be more durable than plastic implants.

Over time however, the friction and wear of the metal pieces rubbing each other creates an excessive amount of metal debris at the implant site, which leads to bone and tissue damage, inflammation and causes pain to the patient. This also causes complications for future hip replacement surgeries.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the United Kingdom’s government agency that regulates medicines and medical devices, issued an alert to physicians on April 22, 2010 warning of all metal-on-metal (MoM) hip replacements and their association with soft tissue injury and unexplained hip pain.

Dr. Daniel J. Berry, head of orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic, told the New York Times that surgeons at the hospital are scaling back use of metal-on-metal implants out of caution, reducing use by 80% in favor of prosthetics made of other materials.

Those people needing hip replacement surgery should discuss all implant options and risks with their doctor, especially hip prosthetics made of materials other than metal-on-metal.