DePuy ASR Hip Complications Lead to Recall

DePuy Orthopaedics is a unit of Johnson & Johnson that manufactures hip replacement systems. Because of 2010 reports of complications from the ASR XL Acetabular System and ASR Resurfacing System, the devices were taken off the market.

These products were initially marketed as allowing more natural hip movement for the recipient and lasting 15 years or longer, but people who received these devices suffered problems like hip implant dislocation and blood poisoning which made revision surgery necessary.

DePuy ASR devices alleged to cause metallosis and pseudo tumors

Hundreds of patients who received the devices experienced DePuy ASR hip problems such as severe pain and needed to have revision surgery to repair and replace the device multiple times. Surgeons performing the revision surgeries have found pseudo tumors—also known as masses of dead tissue—near the site of implant. Other patients experienced blood poisoning from metal particles entering their bloodstream due to the device components rubbing together. This is also known as metallosis.

Patients have reported such complications as implant dislocation, pelvis and femur fractures, loosening of the implant, fluid accumulation, and popping sounds coming from the implant.

Occasionally patients who have needed multiple revision surgeries have suffered permanent injuries and are unable to walk without assistance.

DePuy ASR was sold worldwide

DePuy issued a recall of the ASR. The ASR is a metal-on-metal device and when it was used, less of the patient’s thigh bone was removed in comparison to other types of hip replacement devices.

The ASR was sold outside the U.S. beginning in 2003 and it was alleged that the company didn’t perform satisfactory testing on the product. If a company bundles components from approved and unapproved devices, they are not required to inform the FDA. By 2005, the FDA let DePuy market a different ASR device. This one was a total hip replacement system that used the same cup the unapproved ASR device used.

High failure rate of DePuy ASR spurs lawsuits

Out of 93,000 patients all over the world, as many as 30,000 in the U.S. received a type of the ASR hip device. Medical experts state that the metal-on-metal design was the problem. DePuy’s decision to recall the ASR models became publicly known in August of 2010 and it was revealed that the ASR systems sold in the U.S. had failed at a 13% rate. In Britain, it was even higher with a 21% failure rate after four years and a 49% failure rate after six years.

Due to the problems with the ASR devices many affected patients are seeking help from a DePuy hip lawyer to file complaints and receive compensation for their injuries. A multidistrict litigation (MDL) has been formed in several states to centralize the filings.

Complaints filed in New Jersey state court have been centralized in Bergen County under Judge Brian A. Martinotti. The Judicial Council transferred around 700 cases in the San Francisco Superior Court in July of 2011. Another MDL is located in the Northern District of Ohio where Judge David A. Katz presides.

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