While the majority of the population will never need hip replacement surgery, in some cases hip implants can be the best choice for eliminating chronic hip pain due to fracture or arthritis after other treatment methods have failed. Prior to recommending a hip implant procedure, the patient’s doctor will generally have performed a surgical treatment known as arthroscopy which involves a tiny camera inserted into the hip, then treatment of identifiable problems.

The blockbuster drug, Actos, which is prescribed to control Type 2 diabetes, has received new warning language on the label regarding a potential risk of bladder cancer for those taking the drug. Actos, also known as pioglitazone, is manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a Japanese-based company, and is currently their best-selling drug, with sales of $3.4 billion last year alone.

Cobalt actually appears naturally in the body, but individuals who have no unusual environmental exposure to cobalt will typically have less than 0.41 micrograms per deciliter in their bloodstream. This amount of cobalt equals about the size of a single grain of sand.

The first case study was for a male patient who underwent hip replacement surgery due to osteoarthritis. Initially this patient showed great improvement following the surgery, reporting a reduction in pain during activity. Soon, however, the patient began experiencing a return of hip pain, and approximately three months post-surgery, rashes began to appear on the skin of the hip which had received the metal-on-metal implant.

Many of us would be very surprised to find that a drug can be approved by the FDA yet still have serious—and undisclosed—side effects. The drug Actos, used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, is one such drug. Actos works by decreasing the body’s resistance to insulin as a way of controlling blood sugar levels. Actos is currently being used by millions of people across the globe, with sales jumping from around $2.9 billion in 2006 to over $4.3 billion in 2010.