What is a DePuy ASR Hip Implant?

The ASR Hip is one of many hip implants available from DePuy Orthopaedics. Data shows that more people than expected who received the ASR Hip System experienced pain and other symptoms that led to a second hip replacement surgery, called a revision surgery. New data shows that five years after implantation, approximately 12% of patients (1 in 8) who had received the ASR resurfacing device and 13% of patients (1 in 8) who had received the ASR total hip replacement needed to have a revision surgery.

How Do You Know if you have a Depuy ASR Hip Implant?

The best way to determine whether you have a recalled DePuy Hip Implant is to contact your doctor and schedule an appointment to see the surgeon who installed your hip implant. There are other devices and systems that have been manufactured by Depuy that have not been recalled such as the metal Pinnacle Acetabular cup which the recalled ASR acetabular cup was modeled after. To the extent the patient is experiencing problems with a non-recalled device, the patient should evaluate and look to see if there is a failure with the non-recalled device.

The 2010 recall affects the ASR XL Acetabular System, which is used for total hip replacements, and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System, which is used in a newer kind of bone-conserving procedure.

Symptoms and Causes

The hip joint is like a ball that fits in a socket. The socket portion of the hip is called the acetabulum. The femoral head at the top of the thigh bone (femur) rotates within the curved surface of the acetabulum.With an ASR Hip, a one-piece acetabular cup, which is a metal liner, replaces the acetabulum.

With an ASR XL total hip replacement there are three components: the femoral stem is inserted inside the femur, the femoral head (or ball) connects to the stem and then fits inside the acetabulum. Once the three components are aligned, more natural movement may be restored.

With the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing system there are two components: a cap is placed over the natural femoral head and the acetabulum is replaced with the one-piece cup.

All components for the ASR™ XL Acetabular System and DePuy ASR™ Hip Resurfacing Platform are part of this recall.

Symptoms

The patients who reported problems in the first five years and had revision surgery reported a variety of symptoms. These symptoms included pain, swelling and problems walking. These symptoms are normal if you have just had a hip replacement. If the symptoms continue or come back, it is a sign that there may be a problem.

Causes

The symptoms above might be caused by problems such as:

· Loosening – when the implant does not stay attached to the bone in the correct position

· Fracture – where the bone around the implant may have broken; and

· Dislocation – where the two parts of the implant that move against each other are no longer aligned.

The ASR Hip is made up of ball and socket components that move against each other. These metal components wear over time and generate very small particles that can only be seen with a microscope. This is an expected process. These particles do not cause problems for most patients, but a small number of patients may react to these particles, causing fluid to collect in the joint and in the muscles around the joint. While this condition may initially be painless, if left untreated, this reaction may cause pain and swelling around the joint and could damage some of the muscles, bones, and nerves around the hip.