As fears grow for hip replacement patients, woman describes ordeal (From The Northern Echo)

As fears grow for hip replacement patients, woman describes ordeal

8:40am Monday 30th January 2012 in NHS & Health News By Lucy Richardson

'HEALTH RUINED': Margaret Davie

FEARS were growing last night for the safety of metal-on-metal hip replacement devices fitted to tens of thousands of NHS patients.

Medical regulators are drawing up new advice for more than 30,000 Britions who have received the devices over fears that they are more dangerous than previously thought.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had taken prompt action over the safety concerns, and stressed that the majority of people with the devices were at “low risk” of developing any serious problems.

However, a retired civil servant, who claims her life has been ruined since a replacement hip joint, urged prompt action into fears the metal implants could be poisioning patients.

Margaret Davie, of West Auckland, County Durham, is convinced that her health was ruined by a DePuy Corail Pinnacle hip joint at the University Hospital of Hartlepool in April 2008.

While DePuy does not accept liability for the failure of Pinnacle hip joints, the company announced a recall of an earlier form of metal hip joint, known as an ASR, last year over concerns at the failure rate and growing suspicions that metal-on metal hip joints can damage tissue and bone.

The company announced the recall after data from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales found failure rates of 13 per cent for one particular type of ASR hip. However, a report by the British Hip Society now claims the failure rate could be as high as 50 per cent after just six years.

Mrs Davie said she was in so much pain from the first all-metal joint that she had it taken out and replaced with a totally ceramic joint, in July last year.

However, her pain levels did not improve and on Easter Monday she suffered an agonising dislocation at home and now has her hip held in place by a brace and padding after it was put back into place at the University Hospital of North Tees, Stockton.

Last night she said: “I believe I was poisoned and to hear that up to 30,000 other patients could be affected is frightening. I was not given a choice about the hip I was given but I really wish it had not been a metal one. In hospital you are told about all the risks but I believed I would be alright.

“I feel that I and all the people like me have been used as guinea pigs to see how the new joints have been performing. “ Mrs Davie has instructed London law firm Leigh Day to file a claim against DuPuy and has founded a support group for Pinnacle patients. “I was anxious to speak to people in the same situation as myself and I have taken over 200 telephone calls,” she explained. “I would advise anyone with a metal hip replacement to have it taken out as soon as possible and have a blood test straight away.”

Problems occur with metal-on-metal devices when friction between the metal ball and cup causes tiny metal filings to break off and potentially seep into the blood. These fragments can also cause a soft tissue reaction, destroying muscle and bone.

The MHRA advised that people fitted with the devices should undergo annual check-ups for five years following surgery and those experiencing pain should be given tests to check the levels of cobalt and chromium in their blood.

A spokesperson for the MHRA said: “On the evidence available the majority of patients implanted with metal-on-metal hip replacements are at low risk of developing any serious problems.

“We are continuing to closely monitor all evidence. This needs more analysis before any conclusions can be drawn and further advice given.

We have already taken prompt action to investigate safety concerns and have provided advice on patient management to relevant healthcare professionals.”