Multinational joint replacement device manufacturer Zimmer, Inc. has marketed its Durom Hip Replacement System as designed for use in young, active patients who are likely to outlive a conventional hip prosthesis. Unfortunately, a highly respected othropedic researcher, surgeon, and director of the Dorr Institute for Arthritis Research and Education, Larry Dorr, MD, has found that 14 of the 165 Durom hip systems implanted at his clinic needed to be surgically revised within two years of implantation. In a April 22, 2008, letter to his colleagues at the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, Dr. Dorr wrote:

This failure rate has occurred within the first two years. In the first year the x-rays looked perfect. We have revised four that did not have any radiolucent lines or migration (and John Moreland revised one). These early cups fooled us, but the symptoms were so classic for a loose implant that we operated the patients. When we hit on the edge of the cup it would just pop free. As time goes by the cups begin developing radiolucent lines. We now have one cup at two years that has actually migrated a short distance. It has tilted into varus. We do not believe the fixation surface is good on these cups. Also there is a circular cutting surface on the periphery of the cup that we believe prevents the cup from fully seating. We stopped using the cup after the first revisions.

Two months later, on July 22, 2008, Zimmer finally stopped selling its Durom Hip Acetabular Component, and sent a letter to surgeons and patients recommending that doctors monitor patients’ Durom hips closely. While Zimmer has so far blamed the high rate of failure on surgeon error rather than on their product, the facts suggest otherwise. According to Dr. Dorr, a paid Zimmer consultant who has implanted thousands of hip replacement devices over the years, more than 8 percent of his Zimmer Durom patients required surgery within two years – and as time goes by the number of device failures may continue to increase. Approximately 12,000 patients in the United States currently have the Durom System implanted in their hips, and assuming even a modest failure rate of 8 percent, that’s almost a thousand patients who will have to undergo yet another painful hip surgery as a result of Zimmer’s failures.

On August 11, the Maglio Christopher & Toale Law Firm filed the first lawsuit in the United States on behalf of a patient with a failed Zimmer Durom Cup. The lawsuit was filed in Federal District Court with the sole defendant being Zimmer, Inc. More information about the lawsuit is available in this release from prnewswire.

The Maglio Christopher & Toale Law Firm has for years represented patients across the country in lawsuits against hip and knee joint replacement manufacturers regarding defective hip and knee joint replacement devices. We currently represent a number of patients with failed Zimmer Durom Cups. If you believe that your Zimmer Durom Acetabular Component failed because it was defective, the trial lawyers of the Maglio Christopher & Toale Law Firm will be glad to review your information to determine whether we feel there are sufficient grounds for us to represent you in pursuing a lawsuit against Zimmer. Click here for our online potential case evaluation form.

Typically in order to review a case, we need the orthopedic surgeon's office chart, the operative reports for the original joint replacement surgery and the revision surgery, and the device record for the original surgery from the hospital chart (this shows the product and lot numbers of the components of the device). We also like to have any of the explanted components from the Zimmer Durom Hip System. Therefore, it is essential that you get possession of any removed components as as soon as possible. It is possible to do the case with no device, but we would greatly prefer to have the device.