I have had two hip replacements one four years ago and one three years ago. The last one has either cracked or is wearing out. This seems unusal because the first replacement shows no sign of wear or movement.

-- William Olen Hughes (umswill@cs.com), September 22, 1999

Answers

Response to is there a history of the plastic socket cracking or wearing out in a two year period on hip replacements made by intermedics orthopedics inc.

I was wondering if you recieved an answer. My mother has had two total knee replacements. the first one worked great. The second one, about a year ago has been terrible. She suffers great pain from it. One of my sisters said she heard that some of these parts had been recalled. Has anyone heard about a recall. My mom's doctor says he never heard of a recall.

-- Bob Thompson (egbobt@aol.ocm), June 04, 2001.

In general plastic liner manufacturers have tried to irradiate their plastics to crosslink them and make them stronger to wear against metal. What researchers have been finding recently, however, is the increased strength can have a side effect of making the liners more brittle and prone to cracking. This had not been anticipated by lab tests from which the device makers use to sell surgeons on expectations of long-life. See the following report issued through the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons:

http://orl-inc.com/aaos_publications/2002/NewPolys.pdf

Back to your specific product, you can check the FDA's MAUDE database to see if there has been a history of problems with that product. Be sure your experienced gets logged there, too.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfMAUDE/search.cfm

Hope that helps.

-- Keith Brewster (kbrews@cox.net), June 08, 2003.