Which replacement hips have been recalled?

ASR Hip Replacement Lawsuit - In August 2010, DePuy Orthopaedics (a division of Johnson & Johnson) recalled two hip-replacement units: the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System. According to DePuy, more than 90,000 patients worldwide had one of these two products implanted.

What Is The ASR XL Hip? What Is The ASR Hip Resurfacing System?

To understand just what went wrong with DePuy’s hip replacements, it is necessary to understand how a hip joint works. The hip joint has two major components that fit together like a ball in a socket. The socket part of the hip joint is called the acetabulum. (That’s how one of the DePuy hip replacement parts that was recalled–the DuPuy ASR XL Acetabular System–got its name.) The rounded head of the femur (leg) bone is the ball that fits into the curved acetabulum.

Damage to or deterioration of the hip joint can eventually cause severe pain that makes it difficult to walk or even stand. Many patients who reach this stage opt for partial or total hip replacement surgery.

Both the ball and the socket components of the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System are made of metal, at least in part. That’s why they’re referred to as a metal-on-metal hip implants. Of the approximately 250,000 people in the United States who receive hip replacements each year, about 1/3 receive metal-on-metal implants. These devices become dangerous when their metal components grind together and set cobalt and chromium ions loose in recipients’ bodies

ASR Hip Replacement Lawsuit

The whole metal-on-metal category of hip joint implants is considered problematic, with the FDA going as far as to dedicate a whole section of its web site to them. The components of DePuy’s recalled hip replacement systems (the ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System), however, contained a particular design flaw that made them difficult to implant, according to some orthopedic doctors. Specifically, the ASR cup (the device that replaces the acetabulum) is shallower in the recalled hip replacement parts than it is in comparable devices, making it difficult to place the device where it needs to be in a recipient’s body.

This DePuy design flaw has led to a number of dangerous side effects. One is that metal particles can be released into a patient’s bloodstream, causing reactions such as pseudotumors. In addition, the metal cap (ball) attached to the femur can come lose, resulting in a bone fracture or dislocation of the ball from the socket. Swelling, pain, and difficulty walking can result. For approximately 1 in 8 patients, the severe side effects result in the need for a second surgery to remove and replace the faulty DuPuy ASR XL Acetabular hip joint.

If you experience swelling, pain, or difficulty walking, your ASR XL hip joint replacement is likely defective. To find out for sure, you need to speak with your doctor, who will perform tests to determine whether your ASR device is safe. If it is not, it will have to be removed and replaced.