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Guide to Treatment Options

What Are The Treatment Options For People With High Cobalt and Chromium Levels?

At Kershaw, Cutter, & Ratinoff we represent hundreds of patients who have high cobalt and chromium levels as a result of a defective prosthetic hip. Based on our client’s experiences, there appears to be no standard protocol for dealing with patients who have elevated cobalt and chromium levels. While some doctors are eager to remove hips in patients with high levels others prefer to be more cautious and simply monitor the patient’s status with regular blood tests, x-rays, and MRIs. However, this uncertainty in the medical community creates a real dilemma for patients who are concerned about the health implications of having elevated levels of cobalt and chromium in their system.

In response to these concerns, a group of orthopedic surgeons who have been examining these issues have recently developed a treatment protocol to help doctors determine whether they should recommend revision surgery to their patients. This protocol or “decision tree” describes a series of tests and procedures that should be done in order to determine whether a surgeon should recommend revision surgery or simply monitor their patient. As a patient, you should know about this protocol so that you can ask your doctor the right questions and make sure that all of the appropriate tests are being performed.

The actual Journal article and flow chart can be found by clicking here and we recommend that anyone who is considering hip replacement surgery review the actual article before making any decisions.

This decision tree is an attempt to recreate the decision tree found in the medical journal article from the CCJR Supplement to the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery attached here.

This is not an attempt to give medical advice to any person.  We recommend that anyone with problematic or recalled hips refer to the article.  As always, we also recommend that anyone with hip problems consult with their doctor before making any decision with respect to their health.
hip replacement decision tree