As a DePuy ASR Replacement and Recall attorney I am providing this guide and update.
Over 90,000 US citizens are recipients of the recalled DePuy ASR DePuy hip implant. We think only a fraction of individuals with an ASR DePuy hip implant have been identified, because they do not want to go through the tough surgical ordeal again. Our goal is that we want to get all recipients of the recalled ASR DePuy hip implant identified, so that they get meaningful legal and medical help.
The ASR DePuy implants were widely used throughout the United States from 2005, until 2010. We are recommending every recipient, or family member of a recalled ASR DePuy hip implant to call us, if they are suffering pain, problems walking, swelling of the hip, or lack of flexibility. It has already been well documented that there is an extremely high failure rate for the ASR DePuy hip implants.
Women are reporting more problems, and a higher failure rate, with the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular hip replacement system. Women are also more likely to develop some of the serious side effects of the defectively designed implant, including metallosis.
Metallosis is a build-up of cobalt and chromium ions in the soft tissue of the body, particularly around the joints. Metallosis has been noted in people with all kinds of metal-on-metal joint implants and replacement systems. The engineering of the implant is causing far more friction, which leads to metallic debris being released into the tissue surrounding the implant.
The design of the ASR XL Acetabular system was developed to provide a greater range of motion. The DePuy engineers removed the plastic liner from the inside of the hip implant and made the acetabular cup shallow so that patients could move their legs in a wider arc.
The femoral head moves constantly back and forth as the hip implant’s owner moves normally, and that puts stress on the acetabular cup. In an implant with a deeper acetabular cup than the DePuy ASR hip implant, there is more material to accommodate the strain of motion. The force is distributed over a bigger surface, which means that the implant overall can hold up to that strain better.
The already-shallow hip implant is made smaller overall to accommodate a woman’s smaller frame. Women have naturally wider hips and larger hip sockets than men do, which means that the shallow acetabular cup becomes in effect even shallower.
And the smaller the surface area of the implant, the more likely the material will break down rapidly releasing metal ions into the body. Those metal ions accumulate in the soft tissues surrounding the hip joint, causing metallosis.
Women also more likely to see the problems that develop as a result of metallosis, including metal hypersensitivity, heavy metal poisoning (which includes chromium poisoning and cobalt poisoning) and tissue and bone deterioration.
Information and commentary provided by Dallas Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney Dr Shezad Malik. The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm can be contacted in Dallas toll free at 214-390-3189. If you or a loved one has been injured from DePuy ASR Hip, Depuy Pinnacle Hip, please fill out our contact card for a free consultation.