Over the past several months we have passed along some very discouraging information about Metal-on-Metal hip prostheses. We are happy to have something positive to report: According to a published report in HealthDay News on April 3, 2012, “People with metal-on-metal hip replacements do not have an increased risk of cancer during the first seven years after they receive the device…”
The article cites a study from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales, which contains records on more than 1 million hip replacement procedures. The researchers on this product hoped that this information will allow doctors to reassure their patients that the “risk of cancer for hip replacement patients is relatively low.” They added, however, that long term data needs to be collected over the next few decades as some cancers can take many years to develop.
Unfortuanately, while this study is reassuring on the issue of cancer related to MoM hips, it does nothing to change the dramatic failure rate of these prosthetic products.
