Hip replacement surgery can be the treatment of choice for sufferers of a number of conditions like arthritis, osteonecrosis, or certain injuries.

When it’s successful, it can reduce pain and increase mobility, improving quality of life.

But as with any other surgery, hip replacement surgery comes with certain risks. Symptoms of hip replacement failure can create pain and seriously affect the function of the joint.

Possible Complications of Hip Replacement Surgery

The website for the Mayo Clinic lists a few potential outcomes of hip replacement surgery to keep in mind when choosing the best course of action. Some of these are:

• Dislocation of implant. This complication most frequently happens shortly after surgery. Since the ball and socket of an artificial joint are smaller than those of a natural joint, they can become separated if the hip is placed in a certain position. The patient may have to avoid certain movement with their leg, like not bending the hip more than 90 degrees or not letting the leg cross the midline of the body. Additional surgery may be necessary to prevent repeated dislocation.
• Fracture during surgery. Implanting a prosthetic hip may cause the healthy bone to fracture. Sometimes these fractures are very tiny and resolve on their own, but larger fractures may require hardware or bone grafts for proper healing.
• Loosening of implant. The new prosthesis may not attach solidly to the bone. This complication is less common with newer implants. But when it does happen, it may require surgery to be corrected.
• Infection. An infection can affect the surgical incision, or it can reach the deeper tissue surrounding the hip implant. Fortunately, infection is one of the less common complications of hip replacement surgery. A less serious infection may be resolved with antibiotics, but a more severe infection close to the prosthesis could require revision surgery.
• Blood clots. After surgery, there’s a risk that blood clots can form in the legs. These clots can be especially risky if they migrate toward the heart or lungs. Anticoagulant medications may be useful for preventing blood clot formation. Like infections, blood clots are not one of the more common complications of hip replacement surgery.
• Change in leg length. This might not be as big of a problem as it sounds. A difference in leg length following hip replacement surgery may be caused by weakness in the surrounding muscles. In that case, the problem may be resolved by retraining those muscles to support the hip joint properly.

In addition to these complications, the surfaces of the artificial joint may shed tiny particles of material into the surrounding tissues. These particles can stimulate an inflammatory response that may lead to degradation of the bone surrounding the implant, causing it to loosen. This can be a particular problem with metal-on-metal hip implants, which can shed metal ions into the body and cause a condition known as metallosis.

Complications associated with metal implants have been the subject of a large number of hip implant lawsuits filed against manufacturers like DePuy, Stryker and Biomet. The plaintiffs in these claims generally allege the manufacturers failed to warn about the risk of metallosis associated with metal-on-metal hip implants and the symptoms of hip replacement failure.