While hip implant surgery is one of the more common in the United States, it is not without its risks. Indeed, metal-on-metal hip implants—widely used devices from a number of major manufacturers—have been linked with serious complications, including device failure, loosening, and metallosis.

Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants: The Basics

Hip implants are a common method of helping people relieve hip pain associated with arthritis or other hip diseases and injuries. There are a number of different kinds of hip implant devices, consisting of a variety of materials, sizes, and manufacturers.

According to the FDA, metal-on-metal hip implants are a specific type of implant in which the metal ball component and the metal cup component are directly joined together, and walking or running movement allows these two components to slide against each other.

Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants: The Risks

Unfortunately, metal-on-metal hip implants have been associated with a number of serious complications, including device failure, device loosening, and metallosis.

Why do these problems occur with metal-on-metal devices specifically? Essentially, when the metal components rub together during movement, tiny particles of metal can wear off, releasing into the space around the implant. Movement may also wear and corrode the implant, and metal particles can enter the bloodstream, which can lead to a kind of metal poisoning called metallosis.

The release of cobalt and chromium metal particles into the bloodstream and surrounding the implant can lead to some serious complications, including damage to the bone or soft tissue in the area. Damage to soft tissue can cause pain, implant loosening, or device failure, and can even require revision surgery to remove the implant and replace it with another.

Of course, revision surgery brings along with it further risks of infection and other complications, as well as additional medical expenses.

Revision surgery may be necessitated to avoid a number of complications, including:

• Early device failure
• Dislocated hip
• Cancer
• Degenerative Heart Disease or Cardiomyopathy
• Loss of bone strength or structure; fracture
• Tissue death surrounding the implant
• Non-cancerous tumors or pseudotumors
• Metallosis or metal poisoning

International Attention to Hip Implant Failure

While plenty of hip implant problems have made the news in the U.S., the issues with metal on metal hip implants even involve those in other countries. One Canadian athlete has stepped up to demand greater accountability for the makers of these devices after the surgery that was supposed to improve his mobility left him with more problems.

According to the CBC, orthopedic surgeons in Canada are now pushing for mandatory participation from all device makers in a joint replacement registry that would allow the government to more accurately track the problems.

That athlete says that the issues with metal on metal hip implants are known by the device manufacturers but are not shared with patients until it’s too late. That athlete, Neil McRitchie, says that he suffered severe medical problems because of chromium and cobalt poisoning as the metal inside the hip implant broke down and traveled throughout his body.

Canada and the U.S. aren’t the only countries in which medical professionals and patients are raising the alarm, either, notes another report by the CBC. U.K. surgeons found that the Depuy Pinnacle device, for example, had an unacceptably high rate of revision that caused the patient to have to go back for additional surgery.

That finding was based on a study that followed implant recipients for an average of 7.5 years after their surgery. A large portion of those patients had to go back to their doctors after reports of serious pain and issues. Some of those patients had to have the hips taken out entirely.

Filing a Lawsuit Over Hip Implant Failure

So far, tens of thousands of patients have filed litigation over serious complications with their metal-on-metal implants. Lawsuits allege that neither patients nor the medical community were given adequate warning about the failure risks of metal-on-metal hip implants. Lawsuits have named a variety of hip implant devices and manufacturers.

If you or someone you love has suffered from metal-on-metal hip implant failure and have had to undergo revision surgery as a result, you may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation. While filing a lawsuit cannot undo the pain and suffering caused by hip implant complications, it can at least help to alleviate the financial burden incurred by medical expenses, lost wages, and more.