Friday, February 13, 2009

Success and Failure with the Zimmer Durom Implant

By Maxwell Schmickman

In 2006 a radical new hip replacement device called the Zimmer Durom Cup Replacement was approved for use in the United States. This one-piece design was a radical change from the three-part implants that had been used in previous decades. Doctors were impressed by the track record the implants had enjoyed in Europe for three years prior to the device being introduced into American markets. However, the thrill of victory was rapidly overcome by the agony of defeat as hundreds of U.S. patients started suffering pain from loosening implants.

Soon after the surgeries began in 2006, patients started revisiting their doctors with complaints. Naturally, they knew it would take a reasonable amount of time for full recovery, but they were experiencing pain well after the expected three-month recovery time. Upon examination, doctors determined that a large number of these patients needed revision surgery to correct problems. These physicians now believe that as many as 5.7% of all those receiving the Durom Cup Replacements prior to July, 2008 will need revisions.

After studying the problems from January through July, 2008, Zimmer finally pulled the Durom Cup Replacement device from American markets. After devising a new Internet training program for surgeons, the cup was reintroduced in August, 2008. Only doctors who complete the online training are now able to do the implant surgeries, because the extra training was designed to drastically cut down on the number of revisions that will need to be done. About half of all doctors have refused so far to take the training. They no longer have enough faith in the Zimmer product to go to any extra work in order to use it.

A lot of the unhappy patients who have experienced pain and suffering due to the loosening of their Durom Cup Replacements have filed lawsuits against the company. In addition, a group of stockholders in Indiana filed a class action suit stating that the company was negligent in informing investors about the problems in a timely manner. Even though the company did a lot of testing on the product and found no defects, they announced that they had set aside $47.5 million to pay these claims. They do admit that they were at fault for not offering adequate training to physicians who were using their product.

Patients who are experiencing unexplained hip pain more than three months after having hip replacement surgery, have loosening and slippage in their artificial hip implant, or require hip replacement revision surgery are being encouraged by product liability attorneys to file suit against the company. Per the laws in most states, patients are entitled to compensation for their pain and suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages due to defects in the Zimmer Durom Cup Replacements they received prior to July, 2008.

Since it was reintroduced to the American market in August, 2008, the Durom Cup Replacement device is again being used by about half of the physicians who used to perform the implants. While it is much too soon to know the success rate of these surgeries, the doctors who have performed them are confident that the new training they received will make a big difference. Other doctors are still skeptical and reluctant to take the risk of trying to use the cups again. If you are a candidate for hip replacement surgery, you'll need to read the information that's available and make your own decisions. Keep in mind, though, that even with a 5.7% failure rate, Durom Cup surgeries were still successful 94.3% of the time. - 15683

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