Archive of Failed Joint Replacements Provides Tips to Building a Better Hip Replacement (press release)
A study by Hospital for Special Surgery researchers has provided the first comprehensive look at just how metal-on-metal total hip replacements are failing in patients around the country. Made possible by what is thought to be the largest archive of failed joint replacements, the research should help doctors develop a better hip replacement for future patients. The study will be reported at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Feb. 7-11.
“This paper is the first step in what is a path to try to understand what the problems are with metal-on-metal joints,” said Timothy Wright, Ph.D., Kirby Chair of Orthopedic Biomechanics at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). He said that information gleaned from the study should be useful in improving metal-polyethylene implants, the most common hip implant put in patients today.
“We still use metal implants. We may rub them against polyethylene instead of against another metal, but anything we can learn about these mechanisms of damage could be important,” he said. He also pointed out that evidence sugg...
