Washington, DC: Hip replacement is common place in North America, with many companies providing a wide variety of artificial hips, one of which being the Wright Profemur Z hip implant. In 2009, a report on data from the Australian Joint Registry stated that the Profemur Z hip implant, manufactured by Wright Medical Technologies (Arlington, TN), was associated with an 11.2% failure rate at the three year interval. Hip implants are typically designed to last for up to 15 years or more.
The failure of the Wright Profemur system involves the shaft of the artificial femur, which can break. According to the registry report, the femoral neck of the Wright Profemur Z hip system fractured and broke in the patients, causing pain and potentially resulting in permanent physical damage.
When an implant breaks or fails, revision surgery can be done to replace or repair the artificial hip system. But this means another operation, more inconvenience, rehabilitation and expense. Some people have filed lawsuits against Wright Medical Technologies, alleging faulty design of the Profemur Z hip implant system.
The Profemur Z is a modular system, which means that it is made up of several parts instead of being all one piece. The design was meant to improve things, by providing surgeons with options for modifying the implant so that it fits each individual patient properly. But in some cases, the implant is failing and it is allegedly the very design feature that was meant to help that is causing problems, including pain and loosening of the implant.
According to some sources, the US government has received at least 10 reports of Wright Profemur hip implant problems. But it's difficult to know how many people have suffered an implant failure or related problems because the US government doesn't adequately regulate or track these types of devices.
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Last updated on Jun-29-11 |
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