National Joint Registry Study Raises Concerns

Experts at Irwin Mitchell have revealed how they continue to be contacted by people seeking help after the failure of metal-on-metal hip prosthesis, following the release of a report which raises concerns about the products.

The National Joint Registry has released its 8th Annual Report, the findings of which suggest that “women are most at risk from poorly performing metal-on-metal hip replacement devices”.

Metal-on-metal resurfacing was hoped to increase the life of an implant for much longer, yet many patients have been left in extreme pain and requiring further surgery from hip replacements that were meant to help them.
Following the voluntary withdrawal of De Puy’s ASR model in 2010, the performance of all brands of metal-on-metal implants has come under increasing scrutiny.

Worryingly, the National Joint Registry report suggests that there appears to be a sharp increase in the risk of revision at around six years after primary surgery for the metal-on- metal group as a whole, with the number of patients with ASR needing revisionary surgery at almost 30% during the first six years.  The estimated revision rate for similar implants is around 7% and a standard ceramic implant has a revision rate at around 2-4%.

Furthermore, in terms of patients who have received metal-on-metal implants, there are concerns as to the uncertain effects of the release of cobalt and chromium ions into the patient’s blood.

In its conclusions and recommendations, the National joint Registry concludes the data shows “implanting metal-on-metal bearings of 36mm or greater leads to much higher revision rates regardless of whether in a resurfacing or when implanted with a stemmed prosthesis”.

Gary Walker, a product liability specialist at Irwin Mitchell who represents a large number of patients whose ASR implants have failed, said: “These figures are deeply worrying and suggest that there are a large number of people across the country who will be affected by this failing implant, especially as there are suggestions that the failure rate of the ASR will continue to rise. 

“I have spoken to a lot of patients whose lives have been massively affected by the damage caused by their hip implants. 

“I hope that the regulatory agencies continue to work with the medical organisations and industry to find out how such a well-known and highly used implant failed in such a dramatic fashion and to ensure that patient safety is paramount.”

Have you been affected by a hip replacement failure? If you would like to talk to one of our experts about a possible compensation claim, call 0800 056 4110 or contact us online.

Alternatively, read more about making a metal hip replacement claim.