DePuy Knee Replacement Complications

Knee replacement surgery comes with a host of painful side effect. Some are potentially life-threatening

Monday, April 9, 2018 - While most of knee replacement procedures, around 85%, are successful and patients report less pain return to a normal life, others report unforeseen and potentially life-threatening complications. The following are some of the more serious complications linked to the faulty DePuy knee replacement system.

Blood Clots

One of the most severe complications of knee replacement surgery is blood clotting. A blood clot can lead to a pulmonary embolism and instant death. Studies have found that about 12 out of every 1000 knee replacement patients suffer blood clotting within three months of their surgery. On the surface that may not seem like a lot but when you figure over 700,000 people have knee surgery each year, 8,400 will have a potentially life-threatening blood clot problem. Also, the number of knee replacement surgeries is expected to increase to over 3 million per year by the year 2030 and at this rate 36,000 people could die as a result.

Osteolysis

Due to the mechanical design of the DePuy knee system, it is not uncommon for friction to cause plastic and metal shavings to be discharged from the device and into the body and bloodstream. Swelling and infection can occur locally around the knee joint as the body rejects the plastic and metal fragments. When left untreated infection can travel to other organs including the heart, brain, and lungs and can be life-threatening.

There are other factors that can cause a knee replacement device catastrophic failure. If a person is overweight, and most are, severe stress is placed on the knee joint which can cause it to loosen or even lock-up. If this occurs when walking down a flight of stairs or stepping off of a curb on a busy street, one can imagine the consequences of falling. Imagine a construction worker having an artificial knee lock-up when working high up on a scaffold carrying a heavy object. Imagine a senior citizen tripping falling on a slightly uneven sidewalk and striking their head on the solid concrete.

Arthrofibrosis Stiffness

It is common for knee replacement patients to experience severe pain from stiffness following knee replacement surgery. Most knee replacement patients are in for a long period of strenuous postoperative physical therapy. Knee patients with persistent knee pain may have developed Arthrofibrosis or scar tissue build-up around the surgical site of the artificial knee. The stiffness can cause a decrease in the knee's range of motion or cause an impediment to the artificial knee working properly.

Broken Tibia

Patients have reported that the knee replacement surgery itself caused the tibia to break and a painful infection at the point of the fracture to set in requiring an additional lengthy hospital stay to treat intravenously with antibiotics. Other patients have had their tibia fracture from simply walking after knee replacement when the device was found to be attached at an improper angle.