Orthopedic specialists who are monitoring the DePuy Pinnacle hip as well as all the other metal-on-metal hip replacements that have come under scrutiny since the FDA warning last year, are predicting that more than 10% of DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip replacements will fail in the next 2-3 years. This is more bad news for the beleaguered orthodopedic division of Johnson & Johnson which as already lost $3 billion as a result of its recall of the DePuy ASR XL hip device.
According to Reuters, “We’re simply seeing the tip of the iceberg with metal-on-metal failures,” Dr Mary O’Connor, an orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, said of the entire class of metal-on-metal devices. O’Connor said she does not use metal-on-metal hip implants because she has been concerned about metal poisoning for years.”
While many orthopedic surgeons have discontinued use of the metal-on-metal hip implants due to the FDA scrutiny and data demonstrating higher than acceptable failure rates, the popularity of the metal-on-metal devices prior to the recent revelation of design problems means that many people are now suffering the side effects of these failed hip implants. Hip replacement patients have complained about pain, swelling, a loss of mobility, and with some, a dislocation of the hip prothesis.