The Numbers Are Quite Good—Except for DePuy Hip Replacement

New York, NY"About ninety percent of those patients will be doing well, with that implant, at 20 years." You heard him. He said it. Those are the words of Thomas P. Sculco, MD and Surgeon-in-Chief at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.



Of course, Dr. Sculco was not talking about the DePuy Hip Replacement system. He couldn't be. Far from lasting up to 20 years, patients with the DePuy hips have seen them fail in as little as two years, or earlier.

Such is the frustration and the heartbreak over the DePuy Hip system. And the hip ache, if you will—not to mention the ache in the pocketbook as patients assuming at least 15 good years with their new hips, suddenly face hip revision surgery in as little as two...

The DePuy Hip Replacement Recall, which saw the artificial hip replacement system pulled from the market, illustrates the seriousness of the issue. The contrast provided by Dr. Sculco (who was commenting on hip replacements in general and not about any one brand or manufacturer) highlights just how poorly the DePuy Hip performed.

In the video, we see Dr. Sculco describing with confidence that anywhere from 95 to 97 percent of hip replacement patients will have properly performing hips 10 years following surgery. "And you take those numbers and extrapolate them onto 20 years" Dr. Sculco says, and about 90 percent of those patients will still be doing well two decades after the replacement.

Dr. Sculco, in the video, notes that patients at 50 years of age and in need of a hip replacement will want to ensure they have a successful surgery, with years of worry-free mobility. Normally, in the vast majority of cases, such an expectation is not without merit. "The numbers are quite good," says Dr. Sculco.

But with DePuy Hip Replacement, it appears; such a forecast is unrealistic, as the accompanying video excerpt from SmartTrend aptly shows.