Squeaking Stryker Hip Implant
A story in the New York Times today sheds light on an increasingly common occurrence: squeaking hips.
A study in the Journal of Arthroplasty found that 7% of patients who received ceramic hips from 2003 to 2005 developed squeaks. No squeaks were found in a control group of 48 patients who received metal on plastic replacements.
Doctors who have removed ceramic hips have found dark stripes that indicate accelerated wear on the ceramic heads. Nonetheless, durability tests have suggested that even these extracted hips would have outlasted conventional replacement joints made of metal and plastic, which last an average of 15 years.
Stryker offers the Trident System, a ceramic-on-ceramic implant. Trident replaces the “ball and socket” joint of a hip when a total hip replacement is performed in patients suffering from arthritis or related conditions. It is anticipated that the improved wear characteristics will extend the life of an implant, possibly preventing cumbersome later-life hip replacements.
2 Responses to “Squeaking Stryker Hip Implant”
1 SAM CHEWNING 25 May 2008 @ 2:34 pm
i am fascinated to read the above article which a friend told me about. i am 65 and in very good shape. i had both hips replaced on 2004 and 2005. i have not found out yet if they were STRYKER, although i beleive they were…I STUDIED MEDICINE, so I am “up” on current techniques etc…In fact, my replacements utilized the GALVIN OPERATING TABLE which my doctor in Santa Barbara has been using for an anterior approach with great success for a number of years…It is a superb procedure, and the recovery is far shorter than the traditional posterior approach. I was out of the hospital the next day, and on the golf course three months later…NOW….HERE’S THE ISSUE….I HAVE RECENTLY FELT A CLICKING IN MY RIGHT HIP…..NOT A SQUEEK AS DESCRIBED ABOVE….I thought I would share this information, wondering if anyone else might have experienced this.
thank you,
sam chewning
2 Ed Heary 27 May 2008 @ 10:21 am
Dear Sam,
You are not alone. I also experience the clicking which now has progressed to a loud popping sound (along with the squeaking) with each and every step.
This is a video of my hips and the problems I am having.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM0IkHRX3Oc
My hips started with squeaking and progressed to popping and grinding that you hear above in the video. I have been told by two surgeons to have the hips replaced for fear of fracture of the implant. Stryker claims that there have been no adverse events with these hips, but there have been at least two people that I know of that have had the hips shatter to the point that it was extremely hard to remove all of the ceramic pieces.
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