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 between 2003 and 2011 showed that about 6% of patients with MoM hips needed revision surgery after five years. Patients with ceramic or plastic joints only needed 1.7 to 2.3% revision surgery. The rate was particularly high with larger-head implants and those used in women, in whom failure rates were up to four times higher, the researchers said. Of the 400,000 hip surgeries studied, more than 31,000 were MoM. The analysis did not cover resurfacing systems, which avoid the use of a stem sticking into the bone, such as Smith & Nephew's Birmingham Hip Resurfacing joints.
Metal-on-metal hips were developed to be more durable than traditional implants, which combine a ceramic or metal ball with a plastic socket.
Earlier in the month, the British version of the FDA, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), warned that pat...
