History of the BHR Hip System
The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) System was approved by the FDA in 2006, and has since been linked to a host of debilitating injuries in patients, including a buildup of toxic levels of cobalt and chromium in the hip joint and bloodstream, which many require painful and costly revision surgery. According to data compiled by the National Joint Registry of England and Wales, the BHR hip resurfacing system has a seven-year revision rate of 11.76 percent, well above the average acceptable failure rate for a device of its kind. Similar data compiled by the National Joint Replacement Registry of Australia in 2015 showed that the BHR system has a 10-year revision rate of 14.5 percent for women.
In addition to problems with cobalt and chromium hip implants shedding toxic metal particles into patients’ bodies, serious concerns have been raised recently about the safety of resurfacing-style hip implants. In a 2012 study published in The Lancet, researchers found that 8.3% of hip resurfacing implants failed within five years for women over the age of 55. In response to their findings, the researchers recommended that “resurfacing procedures [not be] undertaken in women.” Three years later, Smith & Nephew finally issued a hazard alert update, indicating that the BHR system should no longer be used in female patients. The company also withdrew BHR femoral head components sized 46 mm in diameter and smaller from the market, and recommended that patients requiring a 48 mm femoral head size not be considered as candidates for BHR implantation, due to an increased risk of revision.
