Product Recall: Please Return Your Hip
Feb. 26, 2001 (Washington) -- When 63-year-old Estelle Knowland got a Sulzer Orthopedics hip implant last March, she thought it would end 20 years of disabling arthritis. "My expectation was that following a period of recovery, I would be fine. I would be pain-free," Knowland tells WebMD.
However, the San Francisco-area resident was shocked when she got a call from her surgeon in December telling her the bad news -- some 17,000 of the devices were being recalled nationwide because of a manufacturing flaw. Specifically, an oily residue on the upper part of the implant, where the cup fits into the ball, could cause the prosthesis to loosen.
While Sulzer officials say the company "deeply regrets any effect this may have on patients," a number will have to have the implants removed. H.M. Reynolds, MD, the Oakland, Calif., orthopaedic surgeon who put in Knowland's device, estimates he'll have to replace 80 of the 250 Sulzer artificial hips he's implanted, according to his research assistant Jacob Keeperman, BS.
It's not clear yet whether Knowland will need a replacement, but her bone hasn't grown into the device as anticipated. She needs drugs to keep the pain in check, and those cause an allergic reaction.
Even though the company promises to pay all uncovered out-of-pocket costs for additional surgery, Knowland is dreading another trip to the operating room to remove a device she thought would last 30 years -- essentially, the rest of her life.
"Postsurgery, the first few days are monstrous," she says.
Ironically, Knowland says that while she was warned about the various risks of surgery -- including reactions to anesthesia, blood clots, and pain -- the doctor said virtually nothing about possible pitfalls of the implant.
Knowland's situation is not unique, according to a blue-ribbon panel that prepared a report last year on medical device performance for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"We heard from enough people to convince me that there are an awful lot of folks out there who aren't getting the kind of information that they need -- not just to decide whether or not to have the procedure, but to really know how to deal with it after they've had it," says Edward Brandt Jr., MD, PhD, panel chair and director of the Center for Health Policy at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.
However, the San Francisco-area resident was shocked when she got a call from her surgeon in December telling her the bad news -- some 17,000 of the devices were being recalled nationwide because of a manufacturing flaw. Specifically, an oily residue on the upper part of the implant, where the cup fits into the ball, could cause the prosthesis to loosen.
While Sulzer officials say the company "deeply regrets any effect this may have on patients," a number will have to have the implants removed. H.M. Reynolds, MD, the Oakland, Calif., orthopaedic surgeon who put in Knowland's device, estimates he'll have to replace 80 of the 250 Sulzer artificial hips he's implanted, according to his research assistant Jacob Keeperman, BS.
It's not clear yet whether Knowland will need a replacement, but her bone hasn't grown into the device as anticipated. She needs drugs to keep the pain in check, and those cause an allergic reaction.
Even though the company promises to pay all uncovered out-of-pocket costs for additional surgery, Knowland is dreading another trip to the operating room to remove a device she thought would last 30 years -- essentially, the rest of her life.
"Postsurgery, the first few days are monstrous," she says.
Ironically, Knowland says that while she was warned about the various risks of surgery -- including reactions to anesthesia, blood clots, and pain -- the doctor said virtually nothing about possible pitfalls of the implant.
Knowland's situation is not unique, according to a blue-ribbon panel that prepared a report last year on medical device performance for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"We heard from enough people to convince me that there are an awful lot of folks out there who aren't getting the kind of information that they need -- not just to decide whether or not to have the procedure, but to really know how to deal with it after they've had it," says Edward Brandt Jr., MD, PhD, panel chair and director of the Center for Health Policy at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.