Hip replacement blinds woman who is poisoned by the metal
There’s a question mark over the safety of metal hips used in joint replacement surgery after one patient lost her sight and hearing following surgery.
Orthopaedic surgeons at the University of Brescia in Italy discovered the woman had suffered metal poisoning after the hip had worn. She had cobalt-chromium intoxication, which occurred after part of the false hip broke.
The team that reported the incident fear there may have been many more cases but had not been identified as being caused by a leaking replacement hip.
(Source: The Lancet, 2009; 373: 1944-5).