A Texas couple is bringing a claim against Stryker Orthopaedics and its related companies, alleging defects in the husband’s hip implant resulted in catastrophic failure.

Plaintiffs Debbie and Dennis B. are filing a Stryker Accolade hip implant lawsuit over the Accolade TMZF Hip Stem and LFIT Anatomic V40 Femoral Head made by defendant Stryker Orthopaedics and its related companies.

Both the products at issue here are part of an artificial hip implant system used in hip replacement surgery.

Dennis says he was implanted with an Accolade hip stem and an LFIT V40 femoral head during his hip replacement surgery in August 2007. After his surgery, he began to have discomfort in the affected hip, he claims.

That discomfort turned out to be an early sign of a catastrophic total hip replacement failure, the couple alleges.

Dennis was suffering from “trunnionosis and a femoral neck fracture with dissociation of the femoral head,” says the couple.

He eventually had to have revision surgery to remove the failed implants. After removal, his surgeons discovered that the failure had caused gross deformation of the Accolade stem and severe and permanent tissue and muscle damage, the couple claims.

As a result of this hip implant failure, the couple says Dennis has been suffering from physical and mental pain and suffering. They say they will continue to face expenses for ongoing medical and rehabilitative care.

Stryker Accolade Hip Implant Lawsuit Challenges Design, Advertising

According to the couple’s Stryker Accolade hip implant lawsuit, the FDA approved the Accolade hip stem for U.S. sales in March 2000. It’s designed to be used with a number of different acetabular cup implants and femoral heads, one of which is the LFIT V40 femoral head.

The Accolade stem and LFIT V40 femoral head are made from two different alloys. The stem at issue in this Stryker Accolade hip implant lawsuit was made with TMZF, a proprietary alloy of titanium, molybdenum, zinc and iron.

Plaintiffs say Stryker’s promotional materials for the Accolade say that TMZF is both stronger and less rigid than other titanium alloys and that it is more resistant to corrosion. (Stryker has since redesigned the Accolade. The new Accolade II stem uses a different titanium alloy.)

The LFIT V40 femoral head is made of a chromium-cobalt alloy. Stryker claims the two different alloys in the Accolade and the LFIT V40 can be used together without causing concern for fretting or corrosion, as confirmed by laboratory testing.

But according to the plaintiffs, that combination of metals can indeed lead to corrosion. Dennis and Debbie blame that corrosion for the failure of Dennis’s implant system.

The LFIT V40 femoral head was recently the subject of a recall by Stryker. The company had received a greater than expected number of reports of failure, including reports of “gross trunnion failure, metal wear, adverse tissue reaction and the need for revision surgery,” according to the plaintiffs.

The Stryker Accolade Hip Implant Lawsuit is Case No. 4:17-cv-00190 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.