A man has filed a hip replacement lawsuit after his Stryker Accolade hip implant failed.

Plaintiff Mark T. says he received the LFIT Anatomic V40 Femoral Head in combination with the Accolade TMZF Hip Stem on Nov. 27, 2006.

The Accolade TMZF Stem can be used as part of the Stryker Accolade hip implant system. The stem is a single piece, made of a proprietary titanium alloy and was designed to be implanted into the patient’s femur. Promotional materials claimed the alloy was stronger and less rigid that other titanium alloys.

The Defendants also claimed their tests had proven the stem showed improved wear resistance, reducing the risks of metallosis from metal shavings that could build up over time with a supposedly inferior product.

The LFIT V40 femoral head is a modular ball/head made of a cobalt/chromium alloy. Made to be paired with the TMZF Stem, the two parts were marketed together “to help maximize a patient’s hip movement, as well as stability and dislocation resistance.”

Stryker Accolade Hip Implant Fails

Mark T. entered a hospital emergency room on May 19, 2016 “where x-rays revealed a worn trunnion with disassociation of the head from the trunnion.”

The ‘trunnion’ is the end of the Accolade TMZF stem. His Stryker Accolade hip implant had failed.

Mark underwent emergency revision surgery on May 20, 2016 due to “catastrophic wear of trunnion with metallosis.”

While performing the revision surgery, Mark’s doctor noted “a large amount of metal stained fluid” as he examined the hip joint. The doctor said “the trunnion was noted to be disengaged from the femoral head” and “there was severe gross trunnion wear with notching on the trunnion inferiorly.”

The Stryker Accolade hip implant failed, and Mark is holding Stryker accountable.

Styker Accused of Negligence

The LFIT V40 femoral head made of chromium/cobalt and the Accolade TMZF stem made of titanium were incompatible, says the Stryker Accolade hip implant lawsuit.

“Defendants failed to adequately design and manufacture the devices to ensure that when combined, each would not fret, corrode, erode, deteriorate and induce severe metal toxicity in patients,” says the complaint.

The Styker Accolade hip implant was poorly designed and manufactured, Mark alleges. The “poor design of the Accolade neck (is) such that the ‘softer’ TMZF alloy” would suffer metal fatigue from constant bending and moving.

The “poor design of the taper junction between (the) femoral head and neck (is) such that micro motion was predictable.” That same taper junction falls victim to poor manufacturing practices because “the femoral head and neck do not ‘fit’ as designed and intended.”

The complaint contends that Stryker should have limited the use of the Accolade TMZF Stem to being paired with only ceramic heads.

“Allowing and promoting the use of large metal heads on Stryker’s small and insufficient V40 trunnion” led to predictable “excessive motion, fretting, mechanically assisted crevice corrosion and ultimately device failure.”

The Stryker Accolade hip implant lawsuit also contends that all of those factors combined led to “rapid, severe heavy metal cast-off, causing soft tissue and bone necrosis, pain and premature failure of the device.”

The Stryker Accolade Hip Implant Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-02034-BRM-DEA in the U.S. District Court fpr the District of New Jersey.