Graphite May be Utilized in Designing Better Hip Devices
The use of graphite compound maybe helpful in designing safer hip replacement devices, research says.
Graphite, which comes in flakes, originates comes from nature-grade, carbon-rich metamorphic rock.
This discovery emerged from the recent study commissioned by the National Institutes of Health that
was published in the medical journal, Science.
“Graphite has been used as a lubricant for over a century. It is a classic lubricant, and it appears to form
naturally,” the international news service Reuters quoted Laurence Marks as saying. Marks is professor
of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University.
Artificial joint manufacturers could use this knowledge to design better metal-on-metal hip
replacements that are less likely to grind and shed metal ions by exploiting the spontaneously forming
graphite, reports Reuters.
“Now that we have a handle on how they are working and why they are working well, we can start to
design them to make them better,” Marks explains further.
Case of Johnson & Johnson’s Recalled Hip Devices
Specifically, in the case of Johnson & Johnson, there are around 93,000 recipients of the ASR XL
Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System worldwide. Following the release of data
showing defectiveness in one out of eight patients to whom they were implanted, the two device
models were pulled back.
“Many people could have avoided considerable pain, suffering and diminished quality of life if the
company had acted in a responsible manner to known problems with these devices,” the Australian
Senate said in a report.
Included in the list of the complications that may likely result from DePuy hip implants are loosening of
hip device, additional hip replacement surgery, detachment of hip device from the bone, unexplained
hip pain, hip dislocation, metal toxicity (metallosis), pseudotumors, genetic damage (genotoxicty), bone
fractures, bone loss, tissue damages and cancer due to the presence of chromium and cobalt in the
blood.
Escalating Number of Legal Complaints against Johnson & Johnson
Based on data collected as of October 2010, there were already about 3,500 DePuy hip replacement
lawsuits that Johnson & Johnson faces. They were the suffering victims of DePuy product failures and
defects, among them displacements, fractures and loosening.