Metal Hip Replacement Problems Being Reviewed in Europe

The United Kingdom’s medical agency will begin reviewing potential problems with metal-on-metal hip implants, due to growing concerns that they may cause non-cancerous tumors, swelling and other hip damage.  

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is expected to announce an official review of metal hip implants this week.

European health officials say that it appears that metal particles may shed into the body as a result of wear and tear on the implants, potentially causing the growth of non-cancerous tumors in the surrounding tissue, particularly in young women. Metal hip replacement problems also appear to cause damage to sinew and tissue in the areas where they are shed, reviewers say.

There are about 40,000 people in the U.K. who have received metal-on-metal hip replacement implants. The MRHA is expected to announce that any considered at risk will be given a blood test looking for high levels of metal compounds in their blood; a sign that their metal-on-metal hip implant may be shedding debris. If the high levels are found, it is possible they will have their implant replaced.

Health care professionals have increasingly been warning about metal-on-metal hip implant complications. The particles can damage soft tissue, cause inflammatory reactions and lead to bone loss. They are also concerned that many of them do not seem to settle correctly into the ball-and-cup arrangement, leading to pain and discomfort for implant recipients.

Last month, reports linked a particularly high failure rate to the DePuy ASR metal hip replacement system, which is now set to be phased off of the market. In the U.S., 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.

Attorneys in the U.S. are now reviewing the potential for DePuy ASR metal hip replacement lawsuits for people who have suffered complications due to defective DePuy ASR implants.

Last year, U.K. researchers studied 660 patients who had received metal hip implants from DePuy Orthopaedics and found that 3.4 percent suffered from adverse reactions to metal debris. Surgeons are warning that one to three percent of all metal on metal hip implant recipients may experience hip implant problems, and possibly need to have the devices replaced, due to metallic debris. In 2008, the MRHA determined that some metal-on-metal hip implants could lead to genetic damage.

All of the major orthopedic medical device companies manufacture their own version of “metal on metal” hip implants, and several have said that the metallic debris problem does not pose a significant risk. However, in a recent editorial in the Journal of Arthroplasty, doctors were warned to avoid the use of metal hip implants, and said they should only be used “with great caution.”