September 27, 2012 — Smith & Nephew, the medical device company that manufactures the Birmingham metal-on-metal hip implant, has published an “Urgent Field Safety Notice” after finding the Birmingham hip implant is associated with a higher rate of failure and revision surgery than is acceptable in the United Kingdom. The average rate of revision exceeds the 1% benchmark created by the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Researchers have found that the metal-on-metal hip implant is associated with a 1.29% failure rate, according to the National Joint Registry of England and Wales. A separate analysis of data from the Australian Orthopaedic Association’s National Joint Replacement Registry linked the Birmingham to a 1.12% failure rate.

It is difficult for researchers in the United States to determine the failure…