All Eyes on DePuys “Bellwether Trial” for Metal-on-Metal Hip Lawsuits

“Bellwether Trial” for DePuy ASR Hip Lawsuits (Walter Eisner @ OTW) More than 6,000 lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts by patients who claim they were harmed by DePuy Orthopaedics Inc.’s ASR metal-on-metal hip. Lawyers have now agreed in front of a federal judge to conduct a “bellwether trial,” to help determine potential [...]

Coming to a Town Near You – Metal-on-Metal Ambulance Chasing Lawyers

 Are you seeing these Ads in your home town? 

UK Registry: No Increased Risk of Cancer With a Metal-on-Metal Hip

Cancer No Threat to Metal Hips (Biloine Young @ OTW) Patients who received metal-on-metal hip replacements are at no more risk of developing cancer in the seven years following their surgery than are people in the general population. This is according to a study led by the University of Bristol and commissioned by the National Joint [...]

No Greater Cancer Risk for Patients With Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants

No greater cancer risk for patients with metal-on-metal hip implants, study says (OrthoSuperSite) Patients with metal-on-metal implants stand no more chance of developing cancer 7 years after hip replacement than the general population, according to findings of a study commissioned by the National Joint Registry of England and Wales and Hospital Episode Statistics. For their study, [...]

FDA Will Consider More Rigorous Testing for Metal-on-Metal Hip Products

FDA Will Review MoM Hip Safety (MedPageToday) FDA seeks more advice on metal hip implants (FDA press release) The FDA “is considering whether to make metal-on-metal hip systems subject to more rigorous testing and premarket review requirements,” the agency said. An FDA advisory committee will meet June 27-28 to review data on failure rates, patient complications, and [...]

DePuy Unloaded ASR Hip Implant Inventory Before Recall Was Initiated

DePuy Unloads ASR Hip Implant Inventory After Problems Were Known (BlogInjury) In 2009 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration raised questions about the safety of the DePuy ASR Hip Implants Johnson & Johnson decided to sell all the hip implants in its inventories before discontinuing the product. An article to be published in tormorrow’s New [...]

Researchers Surprised by Metal Ion Levels in Metal-on-Metal Hips After 5-Years

Researchers surprised by metal ion levels in 5-year follow-up of MoM THA implants (OrthoSuperSite) The 5-year postoperative metal ion levels plateaued in cases having 28-mm metal-on-metal hip bearings but continued to increase for 36-mm metal-on-metal bearings, according to a recently presented prospective study involving 120 patients. “This was a prospective randomized trial with three arms: a 28-mm polyethylene liner, 28-mm [...]

UK Regulators Launch Investigation Into Safety of Metal-Metal Hip Replacements

       Metal Hip Replacement Safety Fears As Medical Regulators Launch Investigation (Huffington Post UK) An investigation has been launched by medical regulators into the safety of metal hip replacements, leaving thousands of British patients fearful of the risk of being poisoned by their implants. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it [...]

Ban on Metal-on-Metal Hips Is Recommended by Orthopedic Surgeons

Ban on Metal-on-Metal Hips Urged (Walter Eisner @ OTW) Surgeons should stop using metal-on-metal (MoM) hip replacements. That’s the conclusion of a study published on March 13 in the journal Lancet and paid for by the National Joint Registry of England and Wales, the largest joint registry in the world. An analysis of 400,000 hip replacements [...]

Report: Regulators in US & EU Where Slow to Inform Patients of Metal-on-Metal Issues

Report Slams Response to Metal Hip Troubles (MedPageToday) Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic were slow to inform patients and their doctors about problems with metal-on-metal hip implants and relied on industry officials and consultants in crafting their responses, the BMJ charged. According to a report appearing online in BMJ, regulators in the U.K., the U.S., and elsewhere [...]

J&J Hip Recall: Internal Emails Detail FDA’S Non-Approvable Letter

  J&J hip recall: Internal emails detail FDA’s non-approvable letter (MassDevice) Uncovered internal emails from Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics highlight the company’s decisions to abandon a PMA bid for the now-defunct ASR hip resurfacing implants amid “a significant number of revisions” during clinical trials. A newly uncovered Johnson & Johnson email may pose problems [...]

Surgeons Using Metal-Alloy Allergy Tests to Screen Patient Candidates for Total Hip or Knee

Allergy Tests Needed Before New Knee or Hip (MedPageToday) Preoperative skin patch testing for metal allergy influenced treatment planning in two-thirds of a small cohort of patients scheduled to receive metal-containing prosthetic devices, a retrospective chart review showed. All 21 patients with positive tests received allergen-free prostheses and had no complications associated with hypersensitivity. Post-implantation patch [...]

ASR Hip Implants Have Been Rejected in the U.S., but Are Still Sold Overseas

    ASR hip implants, rejected in U.S., still sold overseas  (MassDevice) A new report reveals that Johnson & Johnson continued overseas sales of its metal-on-metal ASR hip implants after the FDA rejected them for the U.S. market. Johnson & Johnson’s metal-on-metal hip implants stayed on the market in Europe and other countries after they were rejected for [...]

Live Google Stream: Tension During the ORS Metal-on-Metal Hip Discussion

Google+ posting from the ORS by Tony Svarczkopf Orthopedic Research Society 2012. The guy on the left is at the mic “asking a question” about why he’d never use a metal-on-metal hip replacement. The guy behind him, whose head is turning red, is one of the two surgeons who pioneered the technology over the last [...]

AAOS Releases a Technology Overview on Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants

AAOS Releases TO on MoM Hip Implants (AAOS) Kristy L. Weber, MD, and Fareeha Shuttari-Khan, MPH With concerns by patients, clinicians, and regulators about metal-on-metal (MoM) hip implants on the rise, the AAOS Board of Directors commissioned a special technology overview (TO) on the topic. The TO focused on the following three questions: What are the [...]

Will the Metal-on-Metal Hip Litigation Reach $5B for Zimmer and DePuy?

     Forbes blogger Peter Cohan estimates that orthopedic implant companies—including Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings Inc. and DePuy Orthopaedics Inc.—will pay out $5 billion to cover legal claims that their all-metal hip implants have failed, causing new health issues. The metal pieces of the implants allegedly generate debris as they rub against each other, and the [...]

Graphite Carbon Is Found to Be a Key Lubricant in Long-Lasting Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants

        Lubricant in metal-on-metal hip implants found to be graphite (OrthoSuperSite) Graphite carbon is a key element in the lubricating layer that forms in metal-on-metal hip implants, according to a study recently published in Science. The study was funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, part of the National Institutes of [...]

Large Diameter Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacements Yield High Failure Rate, Corrosion

          Large diameter metal-on-metal hip replacements yield high failure rate, corrosion (OrthoSuperSite) One recent investigation from U.K. researchers has found an “unacceptable” high rate of failure among large diameter, hybrid metal-on-metal hip replacements studied, according to results presented at the British Orthopaedic Association and Irish Orthopaedic Association Combined Meeting 2011 in Dublin. According to study author Ben JRF [...]

Former Depuy Spokesmodel Sues the Company After Her ASR Hip Implant Failed

     Former Depuy spokesmodel sues after hip implant leaves her in crippling pain (MassDevice) Former gymnast and Depuy Orthopaedics “poster lady” Penny Brown says she feels guilty that she might have encouraged others to get the artificial hip implant that left her in pain. A former spokesmodel for Depuy has joined a U.K. lawsuit against [...]

House Democrats Request Hearings on Metal-on-Metal Hips… Caused “Significant Harm to Human health”

      House Democrats Request Hearings on Metal-on-Metal (written by Lauren Uzdienzki @ HealthPointCapital) Democrats from the House Energy and Commerce Committee have asked Republican leaders to hold hearings on metal-on-metal hips and brain stents. In a letter, Democrats said these devices have caused “significant harm to human health”. Bloomberg writes that the FDA has received more [...]

keep looking »

May 18, 2012

  • Newsletter Signup

  • Orthopedic Recruiting

    Now Hiring: Product Development Engineer - Memphis, TN

     

  • Editor – Tiger Buford

     


  •  

  • most popular this week

  • Monthly Articles

  • RSS Orthopedics This Week

  • RSS MedPageToday

  • Support OrthoStreams

  • Book of the Month