Metal Hips Failing Fast, Report Says

By BARRY MEIER
Published: September 15, 2011


In a troubling development for people with all-metal artificial hips, a registry that tracks orthopedic implants in Britain reported on Thursday that the failure rate of the devices was increasing.


The National Joint Registry for England and Wales said that an all-metal artificial hip once sold by Johnson & Johnson had failed in an estimated one-third of the patients who had been followed for the longest time. The device was recalled by the company last year.

The British registry also found that the early failure rate of some other “metal-on-metal” hips — ones in which both the ball and the socket components of an artificial joint are made of metal — was significantly higher than for those made from other materials, including a combination of metal and plastic.

While the patients tracked by the British registry are not in the United States, doctors and patients here pay close attention to the registry’s findings because no such body exists in this country, where there is far greater use of artificial hips and knees. Australia also keeps a registry.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/health/16hip.html

I am imagining those chewing gum commercials where they stalk the gum-chewer in a van, wait for the appropriate time, then jump out and force him to give up his gum.

Hip prostheses, even the plastic/metal combos, have a warranty of 15/20 years. So, get a hip replacement in your late 50's, early 60's and you'll probably live long enough to have "out with the old, in with the new". So samo with these crappy ones.