2. The August 2010 DePuy hip replacement recall for some
93,000 defective implants worldwide might have been
bad news after data confirmed that the device design has
had an unreasonably high rate of failure. Yet there is
good news for the future of metal-on-metal implants.
American and German researchers have discovered a
layer of ”graphitic carbon” that forms on the head of all-
metal hip devices, recent research says.
Problems with the design of DePuy metal-on-metal hip
devices may had led to the rubbing of metal components
against each other and casting microscopic metal bits
into the body.

3.  The following are the symptoms of cobalt poisoning are:
 Gastrointestinal problems
 Haemorrhages
 Optic nerve / vision problems
 Deafness
 Neuropathy
 Kidney failure
 Thyroid problems
 Cardiomyopathy

4.  Aside from metal poisoning, complications from defective DePuy hip replacement implants include:
 Hip dislocation and unexplained hip pain
 Swelling
 Complete hip failure
 Pseudotumors
 Tissue damages
 Additional hip replacement or revision surgery
 Loosening of hip device
 Detachment of the hip device from the bone
 Genotoxicity (genetic damage)
 Bone fractures
 Bone loss
 Inflammatory reactions
 Presence of chromium and cobalt in the blood that may lead to cancer

5.  “Most major medical centers have seen issues with this device,” explains Dr.
Joshua J. Jacobs in a newspaper interview. He is the chairman of orthopedic
surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “This does not come as a
surprise.” “Graphite has been used as a lubricant for over a century. It is a
classic lubricant, and it appears to form naturally,” according to Laurence
Marks, one of the researchers and also a professor at Northwestern University,
teaching materials science and engineering.
 Marks further speculates that subsequent manufacturers of metal-on-metal hip
implants could improve their devices to encourage graphite formation to prevent
metal poisoning and corrosion. The use of graphite was based on a recent study
funded by the National Institutes of Health that was published in the medical
journal, Science.

6.  “Now that we have a handle on how they are working and why they were
working well, we can start to design them to make them better,” Marks further
explains.
 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have taken notice of about 400
negative feedbacks from DePuy clients between 2008 and the time of its recall
announcement. Many of these clients need a second hip replacement surgery.
Presently, numerous clients have pursued legal complaints against DePuy
Orthopaedics Inc. and its mother company, Johnson & Johnson.These cases
allege that the company delayed the issuance of hip recall even though it knew
about the problems of the products.

7.  According to according to
www.depuysettlements.com, DePuy needs to
disseminate more information about defective
hip replacement symptoms so that the patients
would be given immediate medical attention.
 References:
 usrecallnews.com/2010/09/depuy-hip-
replacement-recalled-asr-artificial-hip-
systems.html
 nytimes.com/2010/08/27/business/27hip.html
 tga.gov.au/newsroom/btn-dupuy-recall.htm