NHS hospitals to be banned from fitting metal-on-metal hip replacements after
high failure rate
NHS hospitals are to be banned from fitting most metal-on-metal hip replacements
after a study found unacceptably high failure rates among implants in 17, 000
patients

Mr. Treacy’s Comments:

Metal-on-metal hip replacement has not been “banned”; it is the subject of
ongoing deliberation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence,
and others. More than a million metal-on-metal devices have been implanted in
patients in the past 25 years, but true toxicity has only been published in a
handful of case reports – one of which, ironically, was a result of a shattered
ceramic bearing.

Your article does not mention the success of Birmingham Hip Resurfacing – the
most widely used procedure, and therefore the most relevant to patients.

Ronan Treacy FRCS Orth
Derek McMinn FRCS
Co-designers, Birmingham Hip Resurfacing
Birmingham

You may have read news articles over the last few days which again raise
concern about the use of metal on metal hip implants.

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham has a specific clinic to
provide on-going monitoring for patients with metal-on-metal hip replacements.
All of our patients have been invited to attend this clinic and the vast
majority have.

If you are a patient with the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham, who has
had a metal-on-metal hip replacement or resurfacing, you will have been
contacted in 2012 about your situation and any special monitoring required.
Patients who had surgery after that date will have been offered implants that
are considered safe by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
(NICE).

If you want to learn more, please use the links below to external sites that
give unbiased information to patients:

http://www.nice.org.uk
NICE Information for Public

http://www.arthritisresearchuk.org                Arthritis UK