Video: Faulty hip implants have ruined lives says Orthopaedic Professor – Telegraph

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Ball joint, DePuy, Health, hip, Hip implants, Hip Replacement, Medicine, Newcastle University, Prof Joyce, Prosthesis, replacement joints, Separation of powers

Video: Faulty hip implants have ruined lives says Orthopaedic Professor – Telegraph.

Faulty hip implants have ruined lives says Orthopaedic Professor

As the Telegraph investigates the licensing process for hip implants, Professor Tom Joyce of Newcastle University explains some of the problems that can arise from poorly designed or manufactured prosthetics.

See the video in the original article here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/9626757/Faulty-hip-implants-have-ruined-lives-says-Orthopaedic-Professor.html

For the patients that Professor Joyce meets, the consequences of a hip replacement which fails are devastating: “Often, especially with these metal on metal hips, they have been in pain, there’s been swelling. I’ve even had some cases where adults have ended up back at home with their (elderly) parents looking after them.”

As Professor of Orthopaedic Engineering at Newcastle University, Prof Joyce has seen hundreds of hip replacement joints that have failed after being implanted and had to be removed.

There are three main faults which Prof Joyce sees recurring and they all relate to wear on the hip joint causing material to rub off the prosthetic and be absorbed by the body leading to potential tissue damage and infection.

“You can get metal wear from the cup (the replacement socket for the hip) and the head (the new ball joint) and unfortunately we are just discovering that a third source of metallic wear can be inside where the head fits on the taper of the long stem (the piece of metal which is fixed to the leg),” explained Prof Joyce.

As the Telegraph investigation shows, the checks and balances put in place to avoid painful and costly mistakes in the certification of hip replacements may not be strict enough to ensure that no more patients are fitted with a ‘dodgy’ hip.

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