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, investigators from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter analyzed the cancer rates in patients with metal-on-metal (MoM) hip implants and compared them with the cancer rates of patients with other bearing surfaces and the general population, according to a British Medical Journal press release. Using data from the national joint registry, indentified 40,576 patients with MoM bearing surfaces, 21,264 patients stemmed MoM prostheses and 19,312 patients who underwent resurfacings.
The researchers collected data on patient age and gender, and assessed general health at the time of surgery using diagnostic codes recorded at the time of injury, American Society of Anesthesiologists grade and admissions to the hospital in the previous 5 years. The authors noted in their study that comparison with the general p...
