Hip Replacement Recall
Information about DePuy Hip Implants from Our South Carolina Injury Attorneys
When you have surgery, you place your trust in the hands of your doctors and nurses. Although you may not think about it, you also place your trust in the medical devices and supplies that the doctors use to fix your problems. The South Carolina injury lawyers at McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC are diligent in researching complaints about medical devices and products because they want the public to be aware of potential problems. When medical equipment does not work properly or if a medical device actually makes your health worse, you must undergo even more medical treatment and pay for more hospital bills.
The South Carolina injury lawyers at McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC noticed several complaints about DePuy hip replacements, and they provided the following information about this medical device. If you or a loved one has received a DePuy hip replacement, contact our experienced South Carolina injury attorneys today for a free consultation. Your life, our mission.
Problems with the DePuy Hip Replacement
Patients who received a DePuy ASR (Acetabular Cup System) hip replacement could suffer from a need for a replacement at a higher rate than normal because this particular hip implant from Depuy is experiencing a higher than normal failure rate. In some cases, the failure can happen as soon as one year after the initial replacement surgery, which could cause devastating hip pain and potentially require additional surgery to replace the metal-on-metal hip implant.
The DePuy ASR is a metal-on-metal hip replacement device, which has also been used as part of a hip resurfacing system outside of the United States. The New York Times reported that the FDA has received about 300 complaints of DePuy ASR hip problems since the beginning of 2008. Most of those involved situations where patients required additional surgery to replace the DePuy ASR hip implant.
On March 6, 2010, the FDA sent a letter to doctors warning about the potential problems with DePuy ASR metal hip replacement implants. When the device is used during traditional hip replacement, data indicates that the hip implant has a higher-than-expected failure.
New, unpublished data from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales (NJR) show a 5-year revision rate of approximately 12% for the ASR Hip Resurfacing System and approximately 13% for the ASR XL Acetabular System. Those revision rates included all ranges of component sizes, but the revision risk was highest with ASR head sizes less than 50 mm in diameter and among women, according to an August 26 press release from DePuy Orthopaedics.
Problems with metal-on-metal hip implants like the DePuy ASR have also been associated with issues caused by metal particles that could shed into the body as the hip implants wear down, potentially causing complications. The metallic debris could damage the tissue and bone surrounding the hip implant, potentially causing a loosening of the hip. Last year, U.K. researchers studied 660 patients who received DePuy metal-on-metal hip implants and found that 3.4% suffered from adverse reactions due to metal debris.
DePuy Orthopedics Reaction
It appears that defects in the design of the hip implant may cause the complications with the DePuy ASR hip. Orthopedic experts have suggested that the component has a narrow window for proper placement, which could explain the higher-than-expected DePuy ASR hip failure rate when compared with other types of hip replacement implants.
Although DePuy Orthopedics has previously indicated that they will stop selling the ASR hip implant due to slow sales, a growing number of patients have experienced hip failure and hip problems that were allegedly caused by the defective design of the metal-on-metal hip implant. The manufacturer has announced that they will phase out the DePuy ASR hip in 2010. However, it may be possible to show that DePuy knew about the risk of problems with the hip replacement for a period before they quit manufacturing the device.
Your South Carolina injury lawyers at McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC are now pursuing cases involving DePuy ASR Hip Replacements. If you know of anyone who may have suffered personal injuries because of hip replacement surgery with this defective product, please contact our experienced South Caroline injury attorneys immediately for a free consultation.