How does cobalt affect the heart?

How does cobalt affect the heart?

Exposure to cobalt, related to medicinal or recreational ingestion or industrial contact, can cause a reversible depression of cardiac systolic dysfunction, which can be readily distinguished from other forms of nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

What are the symptoms of cobalt toxicity?

Symptoms

• Cardiomyopathy (a problem where your heart becomes big and floppy and has problems pumping blood)
• Deafness.
• Nerve problems.
• Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
• Thickening of the blood.
• Thyroid problems.
• Vision problems.

What is cobalt poisoning?

Cobalt poisoning is a severe and dangerous side effect of metal-on-metal hip replacements. Excess cobalt toxicity can cause severe pain, bone and tissue death, and other serious symptoms.

What level of cobalt is toxic?

High Cobalt Levels: Greater than 10ng/mL Additionally, the Mayo Clinic Medical Laboratories reports that “cobalt is not highly toxic, but large doses will produce adverse clinical manifestations. Toxic concentrations are greater than or equal to 5.0 ng/mL.

Can Metallosis cause heart problems?

This is called metallosis, or cobalt poisoning. The increased levels of cobalt and chromium flow through the blood and into other organs in the body such as the heart, causing severe reactions like cobalt cardiomyopathy and heart attack.

What is the normal level of cobalt in the blood?

A cobalt concentration <1.8 μg/L indicates a normal amount of cobalt exposure. A cobalt concentration ≥1.8 μg/L indicates high cobalt exposure and risk of systemic toxicity.

Can cobalt poisoning cause dementia?

Chromium and cobalt toxicity may have caused permanent but unchanging brain damage in the patients, which in turn may have caused the cognitive problems. Alternatively, metal poisoning may have triggered early onset dementia in these patients.

Can you get cobalt poisoning from a knee replacement?

10 Million People with Hip, Knee and Shoulder Replacements Are at Risk of Being Poisoned by Cobalt. (This is part of a series, presented by McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC, titled “Life on The Bleeding Edge: How the FDA Won’t Keep You Safe.” To learn more, please read Part One.)

Do knee replacements have cobalt?

Typically made from cobalt-chromium as this material is scratch resistant and safe for use in total knee replacements. The majority of total knee femoral components are made out of cobalt-chromium with excellent long-term success rates.

Do titanium hip replacements contain cobalt?

The femoral stem is the portion of the replacement that fits into your thigh bone. Historically, this is made from titanium and/or cobalt-chromium metals. In the modern era of hip replacements, cemented stems (inserted with a surgical bone cement) are composed of cobalt-chromium metals.

Do hip replacements have cobalt?

Many metal hip replacements were constructed using a hard metal called cobalt in order to extend the life of the hip replacement. As hip replacements fail and metal flakes enter the body, patients can suffer from cobalt toxicity (elevated cobalt levels).