Product News and Recalls

Surgeons association concerned about hip implants

The American Society of Orthopaedic Surgeons held an expert roundtable on the subject of metal-on-metal hips at the organization’s annual meeting in San Francisco, which took place in February.

The devices, which feature both a ball and socket coated in metal, have generated thousands of lawsuits nationally over both their high early failure rate, and their tendency to produce toxic metal debris that gets in patients’ soft tissues.

The British Hip Society, a professional group of surgeons, has issued an official recommendation that the use of metal-on-metal hip implants be discontinued.

The ASOS hasn’t officially made an equivalent recommendation. But the organization did put out a statement that it agrees with British health regulators who said patients getting the implants should undergo annual examination for as long as they have them because of concerns about the metal debris.

ASOS Website also states: “Although the vast majority of patients have not had any problems with (metal-on-metal) implants, orthopaedic surgeons and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are concerned because cases have been reported in the peer-reviewed literature and through a British database in which patients have local hip symptoms (pain and swelling).”

See the Website here: https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00625