Cobalt Toxicity: Is Your Hip Replacement Poisoning You? | Stephen Tower | TEDxSanJuanIsland

NOTE FROM TED: This talk only represents the speaker's personal experiences with mental health, joint replacement, and cobalt toxicity. While some viewers may find information provided in this talk to be helpful, please do not look to this talk for medical advice. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/t...


Multiple studies and patient concerns have established the invasive impacts of cobalt toxicity from metal-on-metal hip implants, yet these implants are still widely used in hip replacement surgeries today. Fifteen years into a successful career as an arthroprosthetic surgeon, Dr. Stephen Tower chose a J&J ASR Metal-on-Metal hip for his hip replacement surgery. Eighteen months later, he experienced an existential crisis, trashing a hotel room rock-star-style with a rainbow of highlighters, shaving cream and pen and pencil. Why? He had cobalt poisoning.

Dr. Tower describes his self-diagnosis, recovery, and the consequences of being a 21st century Cassandra tilting at a $100 billion dollar syndicate. Schooled by personal experience, and later by research, he finds cobaltism to be common in his patients with hip, shoulder, or knee replacements. Together with Radiologist-Nuclear-Medicine physician Robert Bridges, he confirmed the diagnosis of Arthroplasty-Cobalt-Encephalopathy, utilizing brain scans in 80 patients. Extrapolated from Tower & Bridge’s work is the finding that 10 million Americans are at risk for cobalt toxicity. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx