MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Metal-on-metal hip implants complaints have skyrocketed in recent months, numbering more than 5,000 since January, which is more than for the past four years combined.
Hip replacements are one of the most common procedures in the U.S., and one estimate puts the number of patients with metal-on-metal implants at 500,000.
The high-profile recall of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics’s metal-on-metal implant, which recently raised eyebrows over JNJ’s decision to outsource the recall, could cost $1 billion on its own.
The JNJ implant accounted for three-quarters of the FDA complaints, the New York Times reported. Other hip makers include Biomet Inc. and Zimmer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ZMH), which were targets in a May FDA probe into the devices.*
The growing concern puts metal-on-metal hip replacement devices on track to be the biggest and most expensive medical implant quagmire since Medtronic recalled its Sprint Fidelis lead in 2007, according to the paper.
Historic 8 millionth U.S. patent goes to med-tech
The 8 millionth patent issued by the Patent and Trademark office goes to Second Sight Medical’s Argus II retinal prosthesis, Medgadget reported.
Stenting for infants and toddlers?
PCI intervention is a safe option for children fifteen months and younger, according to a new study published in the August issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, a journal of The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.
Heart failure treatments are right on time
Angioplasty treatments for heart attack patients are occurring within the recommended 90-minute window from when a patient enters the hospital to when the blocked artery is opened more regularly than five years ago, the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog reported.
Married heart surgery patients have a higher survival rate
Regardless of whether the marriage is blissful or on the rocks, people who were married at the time of having a coronary bypass surgery were 2.5 times more likely to live another 15 years, although a happy marriage does give you a bit more of a boost, CNN reported.
*Correction, August 24, 2011: This article originally referred to Stryker Corp. as a manufacturer of metal-on-metal hip implants; it is not, and never has been. Return to the corrected sentence.
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