one of biggest medical device failure unfolds - metal hips failing at rapid rate

[Liberal_in_LA]

Remedy is elusive as metalic hips fail at fast rate

BOSTON — As surgeons here sliced through tissue surrounding a failed artificial hip in a 53-year-old man, they discovered what looked like a biological dead zone. There were matted strands of tissue stained gray and black; a large strip of muscle near the hip no longer contracted.


The ball section of a removed artificial hip. Some patients with all-metal hips, ones in which the cup and ball of a joint are made of metal, said they had trouble finding a doctor to help them.

Dr. Young-Min Kwon, the lead orthopedic surgeon on the operation, said the damage was more extensive than tests had indicated and might be permanent. “The prognosis is guarded,” Dr. Kwon said.

Similar scenes are playing out at hospitals nationwide as a growing number of patients seek to have faulty metal-on-metal artificial hips removed and replaced. More than a decade ago, some researchers had warned that the hips shed tiny pieces of metallic debris that posed potential health threats to patients. But those warnings were not heeded, and now doctors and patients face a growing public health problem as one of the country’s biggest medical device failures unfolds.

Some patients with all-metal hips — ones in which the cup and ball of a joint is made of metal — said they had been bounced from doctor to doctor who did not have the knowledge or the tools to properly diagnose the problem. And by the time they reach specialists like Dr. Kwon at Massachusetts General Hospital, potentially lasting damage may have already taken place.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/health/01hip.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

[Renew Deal]

1. I know a guy that had a hip replaced that later had issues

I'm not sure if it was metal on metal, but it was a couple years ago. Something was wrong with the hip, so the doctors had to break his leg just to get it out. How f****n horrible is that? I wonder if this was the issue.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. I know someone who decided against the replacement hip, Guess they are pleased

with their decision now

[Electric Monk]

3. My grandmother has had her hips replaced three times. First at 60, then at 75, and again at 85.

Good thing for her that grampa served in the Navy in WW2, so she's got good insurance.

[Thor_MN]

4. Not sure I would ever be comfortable talking about my grandmother's hip rotations..

Just saying..

[Skittles]

9. SCHEDULING THOR_MN FOR ASS-KICKING

*EGREGIOUS*

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Didn't I see this on House last year?

Candace Bergen was the patient.

[krispos42]

6. Shit. I'll have to show this article to my dad.

He had his hip replaced in '99. At the ripe old age of 51.

[drm604]

7. My mother's hip has been bothering her.

I don't know if her's is metal or metal or not. I better find out.

[saras]

8. Who forgot to tell that new engineer that these weren't supposed to be disposable?

Damn, who'da thunk it?

[valerief]

10. I'm sure some 1%ers got very, very rich from the all metal hips and that's all that matters.

The only thing that matters is that rich people get richer. It's the most important thing in the world.

[formercia]

11. The Patients were supposed to die before the Hip Replacements failed.

I guess the MTBF calculations were off by a decimal point or two. :sarcasm: