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Hip revision pain

Joint Replacements | Last Active: Dec 9, 2020 | Replies (9)

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@stephanieann

My orthopedic surgeon orders a blood test for cobalt and chromium in my blood every year due to the 1 defective hip device still in my body. The cobalt and chromium levels have remained relatively stable the past few years BUT I still have abnormal levels due to the metal and metal hip. The THR device must be still rubbing together causing the metal ions to go into my blood. The question is: how carcinogenic and harmful are these metal ions to my entire body.? Having a revision hip replacement just to get rid of the metal on metal hip joint device could be worse than having these metal ions.?? On the other hand, getting cancer from a hip replacement or suffering serious systemic side effects from a defective metal hip device is not a good option either. I wish there was some way to decrease or get of the metal ions short of having another hip replacement surgery. Any one with information please respond. FYI, the company Depuy Johnson and Johnson, who made the hip replacement device was originally paying for the cobalt and chromium level tests to be done on people who had their device. They no longer pay for the tests

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Replies to "My orthopedic surgeon orders a blood test for cobalt and chromium in my blood every year..."

My orthopedic surgeon wants to do a revision on my left hip, where only the ball is replaced. It is screwed on and made of ceramic based material. I have metal on metal now with very little pain, but the cobalt ions are 16 ng/m, and chromium 14.3 ng/m. After an Aspiration of the fluid that was collected the test showed RBC 831,000 , normal <1,000. WBC 10,942 normal 0.5 com.
How the doctor explained it, it was not clear to me, what these numbers really mean. Does anyone know if they are dangerous to have in your blood, or can I wait a few years with the revision.I am 81 now and in fairly good shape. What are the options?