A patient has filed a complaint as a part of the Stryker LFIT V40 MDL alleging serious health risks associated with his femoral head implant.

Plaintiff Ronald C. filed a complaint against Stryker as a part of the Stryker LFIT V40 MDL alleging that their femoral head implant is defective and caused serious health issues.

Ronald slleges he was implanted with the LFIT V40 Femoral Head twice in two separate surgeries. He was first implanted with the femoral head in January 2008. His first implant was explanted in September 2012 and replaced with another identical femoral head. His second implant was explanted in January 2014.

The lawsuit accuses Stryker of knowingly distributing a faulty product and continuing to sell the product for their own enrichment at the sake of their consumers.

Ronald accuses Stryker of negligence, strict products liability, breach of warranty, violation of consumer protection acts, negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment. As a part of the Stryker LFIT V40 MDL, he seeks a trial by jury, damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs.

Components at Issue in the Stryker LFIT V40 MDL

The hip joint is a ball and socket joint lined with cartilage that allows the parts of the joint to move freely. The head of the femur is the “ball” and the acetabular cup in the hip is the “socket”. When a patient’s cartilage is damaged, the joint can no longer articulate smoothly, which can cause pain and bone wear. In this case, a hip replacement is often needed.

A total hip replacement is composed of four parts: a femoral stem, a femoral head, an acetabular liner, and an acetabular shell. The procedure removes the damages femoral head and replaces the natural bone with a femoral head atop a femoral stem. The acetabulum in the hip is ground out to compensate the acetabular shell. The shell preps the area for the acetabular liner which helps the joint articulate like cartilage does.

The Low Friction Ion Treatment (LFIT) V40 Femoral Head is a chrome cobalt implant designed for placement in patient’s hips as a part of a total hip replacement. The Stryker LFIT V40 MDL argues that the femoral head articulates harshly with the femoral stem of an implant which results in corrosion and ultimate failure of the device due to metal wear debris. Metal wear debris in a joint can cause an adverse tissue reaction and tissue death.

In extreme cases, the femoral head can fall off the femoral stem, an event called catastrophic dissociation. According to the Stryker LFIT V40 MDL, the Stryker stem/head combination is the only commercially available implant to suffer catastrophic dissociation.

Patients who experienced failure of their implant have reported fretting, corrosion, metal wear debris, pain, disability, destruction of tissue, fluid collections, and the necessity of revision surgery. “Frequent findings during revision surgery are the presence of turbid, milky fluid collection, large pseudotumor formation, discolored or friable soft tissue and bone, bone and soft tissue necrosis, and detachment or tearing of muscle,” the Stryker LFIT V40 MDL claims.

The Stryker LFIT V40 Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-md-02768-IT, In re: Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Products Liability Litigation, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.