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You probably have heard about the announcement of DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. on its total hip recall of two of its ASR hip replacement products namely the DePuy ASR hip resurfacing system and the DePuy ASR XL acetabular system. Who wouldn’t have? This has been one of the major medical device recalls that has affected more than 93,000 individuals worldwide. If you or one of the members of your family had a hip replacement operation prior to July 2003, the manufacturing and marketing date of the hip replacement products, then there is a possibility that you or your family member is affected by the total hip recall. Persons subject to the total hip recall experience several complications in their body such as severe pain, swelling in the hip area and discomfort in walking. Aside from this, there are more complications that may develop be because of the possibility of the presence of the metal ions in the body. The metal ions are produced by the flaking off of the metal components of the device because of friction. There are some procedure that the patients implanted by the recalled hip replacements should undergo to ensure their health and safety. If you or someone you know is subject to the hip recall, you should visit your doctor as soon as possible to check the stability of the hip replacement device that was implanted on you. If the patient with the recalled hip replacement experiences pain, discomfort in walking and other symptoms, the doctor may have to take X rays of the device to assess if something is wrong with the device. Some of the reasons that may have caused these symptoms are loosening of the device, dislocation and bone fractures. If the doctor thinks that the damage in the device is already large, he may recommend that you undergo a second surgery or what is called the revision surgery wherein the existing device in the body will be removed and another hip replacement device will be implanted. The doctor may also have your blood tested to check if there is already a presence of metal ion in the blood. The amount of metal ions should be stable or if it is great enough, it can cause several serious complications like pseudo tumors and chromium and cobalt poisoning. It is very important for all patients to act on this matter immediately because the more you delay, the larger the chance that the complications may get worse.
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