San Francisco, CA (NursingSalary.org)- Hip problems due to arthritis and hip injuries are not uncommon and in some cases the issues are so severe that a hip replacement must be considered and done. As a result, many people have implants or replacement parts that help to do away with the pain and allow for the hip joint to work the way it should. The hip replacement surgery should allow for the patient to return to more normal function but in some cases the actual hip replacement fails and it causes more problems than solutions.

The DePuy hip replacement recall is one such incidence of when a medical procedure is meant to help the patient and it fails. The DePuy hip replacement recall is one that affects nearly 93,000 patients as this is how many of them have been implanted throughout the world. The recall is for the ASR XL Acetabular System, which is a total hip replacement system.

DePuy Orthopaedics, which is a division of Johnson & Johnson, has issued a voluntary recall of their product. The reason for the recall is that the implants for the hip replacements are having higher than expected and earlier than expected failure rates in patients. The company admitted that the failure rate is about one in eight, which is about 12% of patients who have had the replacement surgery, are needed corrective or revision surgeries within five years due to issues with the implant.

This failure rate is alarming because it is about twice the industry average. The failures are due to a simple design failure that was not realized until the product had already been implanted into thousands of patients. The issue with the revision surgeries is that they are usually more painful, harder to recover from and often more expensive than the first surgery in which the replacement was made.

Patients who have the implant should register the implant with DePuy. This will entitle them to a replacement surgery at the expense of the company. Those who have the implant and are having trouble walking may be experiencing failure of their implant. All patients with this hip replacement model should schedule a follow up appointment with their surgeon. The surgeon will be able to determine whether or not the hip replacement is still working effectively or if it needs to be corrected. Most of the implants continue to work well over time but it’s important that patients follow up with their doctors to ensure that all is in working order and not doing further damage to the joint.

Patients who have DePuy implants should ensure that they see their surgeon regularly for check ups. They should also be very aware of the functioning of their replacement. If changes in function are experienced, an appointment should be made immediately to determine if the implant is failing. Because there will already be scar tissue and the like, it is important to replace the implant before it fails completely so that function of the joint can be restored with a successive operation.