Autopsy Analysis Thirty Years After Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Replacement

Metal-on-metal bearings have demonstrated low wear after many years in vivo1,2. Consequently, there has been a resurgence of interest in metal-on-metal bearings. There are, however, concerns about potential adverse effects due to local accumulation and systemic distribution of cobalt-chromium wear moieties and ions, especially after several decades in situ3-5. Cobalt and chromium particles have been shown to induce carcinoma in animal models6, giving rise to the concern that such alloys could have the same effect in human tissue, if present in sufficient amounts for a sufficient length of time.