Topic summary
Hip implant
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Hip replacement.
Metal-on-metal hip implant failure
On March 12, 2012, The Lancet published a study, based on data from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales, finding that metal-on-metal hip implants failed at much higher rates than other types of hip implants, and calling for a ban on all metal-on-metal hip prostheses. The analysis of 402,051 hip replacements showed that 6.2% of metal-on-metal hip implants had failed within five years, compared to 1.7% of metal-on-plastic and 2.3% of ceramic-on-ceramic hip implants. Each 1 mm (0.039 in) increase in head size of metal-on-metal hip implants was associated with a 2% increase in failure rate. Surgeons of the British Hip Society recommended that large head metal-on-metal implants should no longer be implanted.