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 Registry of England and Wales, published April 4 in BMJ.
Ashley Blom, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in the School of Clinical Sciences at the University of Bristol, who led the team that undertook the study, said “Although this is very reassuring, we do not know what the long-term risks are and thus further studies will be necessary in the future.”
The registry used by the study contains records of over one million procedures from at least 97% of orthopedic units. Technicians link up the registry data and hospital episode statistics, every year, to check how patients who have had joint replacements are faring.
Researchers compared the cancer rates in patients with metal-on-metal hip replacements with both a group of patients who had other hip bearing surfaces implanted and the general population. They found that 14% (40,576) of registered patients ha...
