Hip Resurfacing and Metal Ions

[fetalsono]

I am 60 years old (young) and need a left hip replacement. I am comfortable about having the surgery as I can no longer take the pain and disability. My surgeon recommends doing the hip resurfacing. He has done over 250 of these. My only concern is the metal ion risk. I have read a lot on the internet and of course the bottom line is that there is no definitive experience that has studied this issue beyond 10 years or so.

One rationalization of mine is that if in 5 years it is known that the risks of the metal on metal prosthesis are significant, a revision to a standard hip would be a lot easier after having had the resurfacing procedure to begin with.

I suppose there are no ways of removing the excess chromium and cobalt in your system with medications.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Josephine]

Hello, fetalsono. Welcome to the board.

My personal opinion about this issue is that every prosthesis has it's negative issues but none that outweigh the positive. There is more written about it than is proven and to be honest, most of what is written is put out by the competitors of those who market the prostheses in question. The bare facts are that an awful lot of these hips are used and have been for a long time. I really wouldn't worry about it. If this was such a problem, why on earth would a surgeon be recommending it in the first place?