Zimmer to unveil new Durom design?

The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Indiana, ran a story this week chronicling the past year since the massive failure of the Zimmer Durom cup became widely known.  In the article titled, “Zimmer’s Hip Takes a Hit”, reporter Michael Schroeder starts by highlighting the story of Durom patient Trudie Millerburg, who lost two years of her life trying to diagnose her failed Durom cup, then suffered complications following her revision surgery which will require a third surgery to correct.  He goes on to interview Larry Dorr, M.D. of the California-based Dorr Institute for Arthritis Research and Education Foundation to get a scientific explanation as to why the cup has a tendency to resist growing into patients’ hips as it is supposed to, causing it to become loose within the joint as it did in Ms. Millerburg’s case.  Mr. Schroeder writes:

“‘We had failures with it, and we didn’t think it was a good design,’ said Dorr.  He thinks the design of the cup, which flairs out compared with a traditional hemispheric shape, can prevent bone in-growth integral to a long-term fix.   More recently, Dorr said he reviewed changes Zimmer made to the implant and would use the modified version of the cup if it gets approved for market. Dorr said the modified cup is more hemispheric and conventional in design, and he expects it to be phased in.

Zimmer spokesman Brad Bishop denied the product Dorr reviewed is a modified version of the Durom cup.  Rather, he said in an e-mail that Zimmer is developing another metal-on-metal cup for hip replacement that it’s planning to launch the second half of this year.  ‘This is a new design that is an addition to our product portfolio and is not an updated version of the Durom product,’ Bishop said in the e-mail.”

Since the problems with the Durom cup become widely known last year, many surgeons and patients have abandoned the device, despite Zimmer’s assurances that the device itself is not to blame for its apparent inability to achieve bony ingrowth.  Perhaps as a result of its Durom-related troubles, Zimmer has seen a decrease in its marketshare for orthopedic devices, and it will be interesting to see whether a new metal-on-metal hip implant design from the company will inspire confidence – or skepticism – from consumers. 

You can read the rest of Mr. Schroeder’s article here: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090608/BIZ/306089936