Study: Metal Hip Replacements not Reliable

Metal hip replacements are less reliable than the traditional plastic replacements for hips, suggests latest report from British registry.


National Joint Registry of England and Wales, the British registry is world’s largest joint database. It includes record of 1 million people who have undergone replacements for hip, ankle or knee.
Data from the registry clearly showed that metal hip replacements need removal and replacement much before the plastic replacements. Amongst the people who have metal hip replacements, fourteen percent needed full replacement only after seven years. On the contrary, only three percent patients with plastic replacement needed complete removal and replacement at the same time.


Normally metal hip replacements must last for ten years. However, some metal replacements are falling within few years, stated British Officials.


Report also pointed out obesity to be one of the responsible factors for hip replacement. According to the report, maximum number of patients who needed hip and knee replacements were either obese or had overweight.


Last year’s British registry report pointed out high failure rate of a type of metal replacement by division of the Johnson & Johnson. Report stated that 30 percent of patients who received hip replacements by Johnson & Johnson needed a new one. After this report, use of all metal replacement has significantly fallen. As a result, metal replacements have dropped down from 15 percent to 5 percent since 2006.


The latest report from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales can lead to more caution among doctors while performing hip replacements, especially metal replacements.