Johnson & Johnson again recalls thousands of faulty hip implants

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) - Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has again recalled thousands of its hip implants, two and a half years after the problem-plagued health care giant issued a recall of two other types of its artificial hips.

Spokesmen for J&J's DePuy Orthopaedics unit said on Thursday that the company recalled the Adept brand all-metal total hip replacement system starting last month because a higher-than-expected percentage of them had to be replaced. Such replacements, called revision surgeries, usually are needed when an artificial joints starts causing pain, difficulty walking or other problems.

The recall involves only the top part of the hip replacement system, the ball at the top of the thigh bone that fits into the hip's socket.

New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J said it's recalled all 7,500 Adept implants shipped worldwide between 2004 and September 2011. That's when it sold the product back to the company that had developed Adept and had sold the rights to it to the DePuy business in 2009.