Metal hip replacement complaints soar

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration received more than 5,000 reports this year about metal-on-metal hips, an analysis by The New York Times indicated.

FDA officials say they received more reports on the devices since January than in the previous four years combined. The vast majority of reports involve patients who had their all-metal hip removed because it failed after only a few years, even though hip replacement typically last 15 years or more, The New York Times said.

Hip replacement was one of the most common U.S. health procedures until a recent sharp decline. All-metal implants -- the artificial ball and cup are made of metal -- accounted for nearly one-third of the estimated 250,000 replacements performed each year, the analysis shows.

Problems with the hip implants are not life-threatening, but some people have suffered crippling injuries caused by tiny particles of cobalt and chromium that the metal devices shed as they wear, the Times reported.

The Articular Surface Replacement, recalled last year by Johnson & Johnson, accounts for 75 percent of the complaint reports reviewed by the Times.

The all-metal devices were sold without testing in patients or without a FDA requirement that producers track their performance. The FDA in May ordered manufacturers to study how frequently the devices failed but a lack of patient registries makes this effort difficult, the newspaper said.