If your Stryker Rejuvenate hip implant should fail or cause chromium and cobalt poisoning, your surgeon will have to perform a revision surgery to replace the Rejuvenate implant and correct problems in the joint. As many as 55,000 patients in the United States undergo revision surgery each year to replace hip implants which have loosened or become painful, infected, or suffered dislocation. When Stryker recalled the Rejuvenate and ABGII in July, 2012, the company noted a higher-than-normal rate of failure for the metal implants. Fretting and corrosion were found to occur at the neck junction, leading to the excess release of metal ions into the body. These metal ions can cause chromium and cobalt poisoning as well as Stryker hip metallosis, which can lead to the necessity of revision surgery.
How Stryker Hip Metallosis Can Lead to Stryker Rejuvenate Revision Surgery
Stryker hip metallosis can cause inflammation and pain in the hip, thigh and groin region, deterioration of the tissue and bone surrounding the hip, loosening of the hip implant and total hip failure. The goal of revision surgery is to relieve the pain, restore the patient’s mobility, and remove recalled implants which may be releasing more cobalt and chromium ions into the patient’s body every day. Even when revision surgery is warranted, a doctor may advise against the surgery due to the patient’s age or overall physical health. Rejuvenate revision surgery is much more dangerous than the original hip implant surgery. Hip revision surgery is simply a much more complex procedure with a mortality rate of 2.5%, as compared to 1% for the original surgery.
Chromium and Cobalt Poisoning
Because of the dangers associated with revision surgery, some surgeons are reluctant to perform the procedure, yet may have little choice if their patient’s hip is to ever function normally again. Patients with chromium and cobalt poisoning are likely experiencing extremely serious health symptoms such as loss of vision and hearing, neurological, cardiovascular, renal, thyroid and gastrointestinal disorders, vertigo, short-term memory loss, pseudo-tumor development, reproductive disorders and irritability, anxiety and depression. Patients experiencing these symptoms may require revision surgery in order to regain at least a portion of their health, and stop the progression of chromium and cobalt poisoning.
The Dangers of Stryker Rejuvenate Revision Surgery
Surgeons often consider the removal of a Stryker Rejuvenate hip implant to be more complex than that of any other type of hip device. The stem of the Rejuvenate is especially long, and during the original implant surgery, the stem is placed deeply into the femur. Should revision surgery be necessary, the surgeon must literally dig the stem from the femur bone, and because this is such a lengthy procedure, the patient may be on the operating table as long as five hours. Surgery of this length can leave the patient exposed to excess blood loss, infection and nerve damage. Further, in some cases when the surgeon is attempting to extract the stem of the Rejuvenate, the surrounding femur bone shatters. The patient is then forced to be confined to a wheelchair until the surgeon is able to reconstruct the bone and implant the new hip device.
Recovery time for a Stryker Rejuvenate revision surgery can be six weeks or longer, leaving the patient unable to return to work or normal day-to-day activities. Revision surgery also places the long-term risk of dislocation at about 7%. Unlike a Pinnacle revision surgery in which only the metal liner must be replaced, the Stryker Rejuvenate revision surgery is much more complicated—and much more dangerous for the patient. If you have a recalled Stryker Rejuvenate and have been told you need revision surgery, it could be to your advantage to speak to a Stryker hip recall lawyer regarding a potential Stryker hip lawsuit.