Tags
DePuy, DePuy ASR Hip, DePuy ASR™ Hip Resurfacing System, depuy hip recall, hip resurfacing, Hips, metal on metal., Smith & Nephew
This video contains a very disturbing interview with a top surgeon who outlines the issues with Metal on Metal hips – even when the patient doesn’t realise things are going wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5TKu1mx-zZ0
If you have any issues with this link then contact me.
Earl's View 
My god, that video really scares me.
For me, my BHR issue has always been with groin pain, and nothing else. The joint itself works ok, and as my surgeon keeps telling me, its mechanically OK.
But why do i get so much groin pain, and occasionally visible external swelling right where the area of the Cup is.
I was recently told by a specialist Ultrasound doctor, that he thought part of my bladder was going through into the hip area. But from what the surgeon in this video says, it could be that the metal ions behind the cup are actually eating away at the bone, and heading towards the bladder.
This video, and the findings of this surgeon are deeply concerning.
I am going to email the link of this posting to my surgeon, Mr Tony Andrade, to see if he is aware, and what his thoughts are.
Yes – very scary. And the problems after revision seem to be a theme developing with a number of patients too.
I have been reading your post as I sit and recover from my revision surgery from the Birmingham mom resurfaced hip. I was one that had no symptoms yet a lot of damage. My lifestyle will not be the same going forward and I feel so bad for the others I am reading about. If only the doctor who put it in would have told me and all of his patients to get our blood levels checked!
Good to see the real info surfacing. I am pleased that at the time my surgeon agreed that the jury was still out on MOM and so we went for the older version that caused few if any problems. i.e. Stryker PE Cup and Exeter Stem in April 2011.
Yes – conservative is best it seems! Wish my first surgeon was as smart!!! Told me mine was “stainless steel”. LOL.
Thanks for posting this Earl. I’m going to send the link to my Lawyer.
He described my pain and symptoms after my BHR’s exactly and now 5 surgerys later, I have Total hip replacements that have been recalled for fretting and corroding, just as he described with the ASR stemmed devices. The terrifying thing is I have titanium cups with polyethiline liners and ceramic femoral parts. My surgeon wanted to get rid of the metal on metal joints. It turns out the ceramic ones are made from metal too and therefore have the same potential for metal ion issues.
What pisses me off is I had my first surgery at the end of 2008, 2 years after they started realizing the problems and they were and still are, on Smith and Nephews website, being touted as the best thing for young, active patients.
Be very scared people. None of these damn things are safe.
Hi Barbara – very scary stuff and while I have a lot of metal with my Zimmer ceramic on ceramic I am hoping that they do not crap out and aggravate the metallosis from the previous S&N MoM. You have had an unbelievable chain of events – cannot believe it and I am sure it is a nightmare you cannot believe either. I hope there is some light at the end of the tunnel (and it is not a bloody train)…
Earl
Not to sure what this means for me. My surgeon just replaced the head and all I know is on the card he sent. Femur: Corail; Acetabulum: Contour Cage/Polar
Bearing: Polar. Head size 22/43mm. I still have the DePuy stem. Five months down the track I still cannot raise my right leg, still pain in my groin and a very pronounced limp. I need a stick all the time otherwise I have problems with my back. I asked the surgeon about the limp – he more or less said “I have done a good job technically” and implied – get on with it. I asked how long I could have the limp and he said I might always have it. How do I get hold of all my details, pathology etc., I am so disallusioned with it all – he never ever said to me that I could have a limp for the rest of my life.
Will I still have problems with the stem – will that continue leaking chromium and cobalt. My Chromium and Cobalt levels have never been that much above normal. Why is it so hard for surgeons to give accurate honest information.Do you think some of them dont even tell us we have problems just to protect DePuy.
Meg, You can get all of your records at the facility you have received your treatment from by signing a form releasing all documentation to yourself, generally — well, at least that’s what I have done. They sent me a form whereupon I checked nearly every ‘box’ listed, and I now have all lab work, imaging, chart notes, operation reports, device part numbers at home here. (Sometimes part numbers are called ‘sticker numbers’ because they’re pasted to the paper). You have my email if you want me to help with anything. The main thing is for you to say you want them for your ‘continuing care’ — which is quite true — and around here such a purpose saves you quite a bit of money. That is all your caregiver needs to know, so find out by inquiring with them directly. I have become very angry when reading the lies my surgeon has told, such as “we had long talks on the risks associated with metal ions” — when was the last time you had a long talk with your surgeon? I’m surprised this account didn’t place us both on the coast with a glass of Pinot Noir. But the ‘consent form’ to which i affixed my signature says nothing of the matter, and only after my hip failed did I learn of what it was comprised. The hospital has covered their derriere more than once in my records.
Earl, unbelievable video, my friend, most importantly because he’s an expert surgeon who has discovered the truth, witnessed the extent of the damage and can’t be bought (like people featured in videos on other sites extolling the virtues of this wondrous MOM technology). He helps restore my faith in the expected honesty of my fellow man, especially in one’s orthopaedic surgeon. We who frequent this site know full well the veracity of this man’s statements, his empirically vivid descriptions an accurate telling of the medical horrors so many here have experienced.
“The Truth Will Out” — of that I am no longer in doubt!
Brooks
good advice. You will make many a hospital administrator unhappy!
Amazing video – and to think this is over 18 months old and it has only just come to light.
Hope you are being kind to yourself!
Earl
Really interesting …and describes so precisely what happened with my BHR (2006) which is not surprising given that my cobalt levels a year ago were about 220ug/LT. S&N are as much to blame as DePuy. Still experiencing leg/thigh/back/buttock pain exactly 12 months after my revision.
Yes – S&N and McMinn are totally to blame. DePuy just made a poor copy and made a bad thing worse.
Earl
This video is compelling, truthful and non biased. If you include comments made in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery : December 7,2011 page 2164 re: prevalence of Pseudotumor in Asmptomatic patients after metal on metal hip arthroplasty, or Janruary 4, 2012 page 86 more results on same topic or February 15, 2012 page 317 and page 364 more on same topic plus a pile more of written documentation and research data provided by some of the top authorities in the USA and abroad regarding metal on metal hips being hazardous to human beings health.
Why are these devices still on the market and why isn’t the public being educated or warned in a simpler format all people can understand and all people have access to other than searching and researching for this information on their own.
Sure you can go to the FDA site and then you end up being redirected to ??? organizations within the FDA.
Is this a hush-hush way of information: in reality the more confusing this process of information is to most folks, it is easy to understand why folks will back down and say ” It’s too complicated, I don’t want to get involved ” thus the device world will continue to rule. This matter will go away until another disaster strikes.
Respectfully
Howard Sadwin
I am flabbergasted ….I have a MOM hip which is much older than most of these….. been having all sorts of issues with my health that can’t be explained, for over 3 years…, and my surgeon says everything is fine on x-ray scan.. my levels are 3 times higher than normal.
And you should be! They have their heads where the sun doesn’t shine. In denial. You either get your surgeon into gear or get a smart one. Where do you live? I am on the Gold Coast, QLD and have a great surgeon.
Earl
I live near Byron Bay, and going to see a Professor Crawford In Brisbane, end of January. the guy that wouldn’t touch me is also in Brisbane at the orthopaedic on wickham terrace. who would you suggest ? do you think my levels are high enough to warrant taking it out. it is nearly 18 years old…, I have had groin pain for 3 years along with unexplained bladder issues,been to hospital twice with it… urologist says all is okay.. unexplained weird vision feel like their is a coating over my eyes, eye specialist says my eyes are fine..Palpitations for no known reason, funny taste in my mouth, I have perfect teeth and gums,
I put all this down to menopause as I am 57 but 37 when I had my first hip done which was ceramic/ceramic, so I assumed this one was the same. it wasn’t until I had been complaining for 3 years did this surgeon send me for metal levels, he not once said you have a MOM hip I found out when I read the path lab form so I was furious… The surgeon who put it in dismissed me saying I needed physio so I did that for a year, and physio, said to me your hip is the problem not your muscles, so I went to this second guy who I might add, had to do an emergency surgery on my other hip as it kept dislocating. he did a good job but now I am left with this MOM hip he refuses to remove. the original guy is going overseas for 6 months, so that’s no help to me, I want this dam thing out before I get sicker.sorry I have gone on but i am at my wits end. I am sick of feeling unwell. the only proof I haven’t got is x-ray and scan to say there is a problem, thank god my shoulder surgeon goes by my symptoms not what an x-ray says. i have a total of 5 joint replacements. so I need to look after them. thanks so much for reading this. if you would like to give me some advice I am happy for you to send me an e-mail….. thanks so much I feel better just telling you all this.
Hi
I will ask Stuart Cain to advise you as he knows the Brisbane Guys best. He has had 5 revisions as a result of the DePuy metal on metal.
Am I right in understanding your metal hip is 18 years old? If so that is way more than normal. Regardless it is probably due for replacement if that is the case.
What make is the hip?
Your symptoms sound like cobalt poisoning.
I will put you in touch with a number of victims who will have some advice.
Earl
Thanks so much Earl, I actually do know what my hip is and yes it is 18 years in March 2013. It is a PROTEK Titanium Stem, a PROTEK cup and a Zimmer Metasul Ball.
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