Metal ions

[Tony]

I have been reading alot about metal ions being a drawback with hip resurfacing.Please correct me if I am wrong, but with the new large ball and socket metal on metal THR's would you not have the same ion issue? Some doctors argue the ion point as one of the complications of resurfacing.

[John C]

I am sure that you are right. Given a metal on metal articulation with the same large size components as a resurfacing (which I believe is true of the metal on metal THRs), there should be no difference in wear and ions issues between a resurfacing and a THR. An interesting question would be whether the THR would have more issues with the wear debris getting into the femoral canal and causing osteolysis issues, as I believe can happen with metal on poly THRs.