Category: metal on metal implants

The European equivalent of the US FDA, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency [MHRA], recently updated their recommendations for physician management and follow up visits for patients with metal-on-metal implants. Patients should be followed yearly and monitored for complications [such as chromium toxicity and device failure].

Johnson & Johnson wrote internal emails in 2009, one year before recalling the device that the FDA refused to approve it after noting it was failing prematurely in “significant” numbers, requiring repeat surgeries to replace it [reported by the New York Times @ www.nytimes.com].