J&J Hip Attracts Anxiety

Joint Registry

A nationally renowned expert, whose research raised concerns during the Birmingham panel meeting, could help answer that question.

Joshua Jacobs, an orthopedics professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, is testing the blood of Soltero and others as part of an ongoing study of possible risks associated with metal devices. But Jacobs feels that he alone can never find the answers people seek. Instead, he is pushing for a national joint registry -- an idea opposed by some in the orthopedics industry -- that could more efficiently track the performance of individual devices.

"Most of the major industrialized countries seem to have pulled this off," Jacobs says. "There's no reason why we couldn't do this in the U.S. ... We wouldn't have to start from scratch."

In the meantime, Jacobs has found no clear evidence yet of problems with a particular implant. Moreover, he stresses that isolated failures should not "condemn an entire technology."

Soltero's own surgeon sent her samples off to Jacobs after removing her metal hip and finding another two masses right around the joint. Her doctor shipped the device back to its manufacturer as well.

Even so, Soltero expects a "completely clean" report on the implant itself, with any clues residing instead in the masses that DePuy does not have. She now feels grateful that the earlier masses surfaced -- giving her some visible warning sign -- before those deep inside her hip went undetected too long and possibly developed into far worse ailments.

Soltero finally got rid of her metal hip a few months ago, less than five years after receiving it.

Some experts now worry that young patients with newly resurfaced hips could also reject the metal and face similar, or even worse, fates ahead.

Soltero, as a medical researcher, simply wants answers for both herself and for others who might one day follow in her path.

"It was the joint of choice -- no question about it -- based on what we knew," she says. "But I would be interested to learn if the company knew anything about these adverse events beforehand.

"That's really it. I don't regret the decision I made at the time. I just want the right thing to come out of it now."

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