Greater Likelihood of Hip Implant Failure among Women

 New studies seem to point to the fact that women fare less favorably than men after receiving a hip implant. This study comes on the heels of FDA scrutiny of metal-on-metal hip implants in particular. California researchers studied 35,000 cases of artificial hip implants finding the failure rate for women three years post-op was about 2.3 percent while the failure rate for men is approximately 1.9 percent. This includes all types of artificial hip devices—ceramic, polyethylene and metal-on-metal.

Necessity for Hip Implants

The primary reason for implant failure among women was due to dislocation of the artificial implant. The purpose of hip implants is to relieve pain and give back a certain level of mobility to the patient. Arthritis and injuries are often the cause of this lack of mobility and chronic pain. The more active lifestyles of many Americans have resulted in younger and younger recipients of artificial hip devices. For many people the operation provides much-needed relief so while this research should not dissuade those who really need hip replacement surgery from proceeding, women in particular should be very cautious about the type of hip implant they receive.

Problems with Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants

While the metal-on-metal hipimplants are used less frequently among women, they tend to cause the greatest number of problems. In fact, the failure of the all-metal hip implants among women was nearly twice that of the same all-metal implants in men. The all-metal hip implants, while marketed as having a life expectancy of fifteen years or more have suffered many different problems which have caused several manufacturers to recall their all metal hip implants. Lawsuits number in the thousands against these manufacturers from implant recipients who have suffered tissue destruction and death, chronic pain and bone loss, leading to the necessity of a revision surgery. Many of these patients have had metal toxicity and metal poisoning as well, suffering a variety of adverse health symptoms as the cobalt and chromium levels build to dangerous levels in their bodies.

Potential Reasons for Higher Failure among Women

Director at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, Geoffrey Westrich, notes that in a separate study he and his collaborators found that women tend to wait longer before they agree to hip implant surgery and they typically report greater amounts of pain than men. The study which found that women are more likely to suffer hip implant failure was funded by the FDA and the specific results were published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Women’s typically smaller joints dictate a smaller femoral head be used in the hip implant.

Those smaller heads have a greater risk of dislocation, leading to revision surgery. Women also tend to have a higher degree of bone density loss, particular after menopause which could also contribute to the higher number of revision surgeries for women. Women considering an artificial hip implant surgery are cautioned to choose a model—other than a metal-on-metal implant—which has been on the market a substantial number of years with the fewest amount of patient problems.