Fallout from the Stryker Accolade hip implant recall continues as patients suffering from the failed devices file lawsuits.

The Stryker Corporation is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of medical equipment and orthopedic products. The Accolade hip implant models made in 2009, 2011 and 2013 were recalled due to packaging and manufacturing problems.

Stryker Accolade Hip Implant Recall and Metallosis

The Stryker Accolade hip implant recall is in part because of the risk of metallosis, also known as metal poisoning.  The hip parts are made of a titanium alloy that can corrode or cause tiny pieces of metal debris to shave away when used with cobalt chromium femoral heads.

More specifically, the Accolade is made of a proprietary blend of titanium, iron, molybdenum and zirconium. Stryker used this alloy as a marketing point, touting the metal as a stronger and more flexible product than its competitors.

Small shards of metal are apt to enter the patient’s tissues, blood stream, and bones. When these pieces of metal are released into the body, the chances of an Adverse Local Tissue Reaction (ALTR) increases. This means that painful inflammation, tissue death, and even bone death at the implant site can occur, causing the device to fail.

Sudden Hip Implant Failure

The Stryker Accolade is accused of spontaneously dissociating, meaning the femoral head becomes loose from the stem. This can happen so suddenly that a patient who has had no previous indications of a problem can suffer catastrophic failure with no notice. In these cases, the patient needs immediate medical help and, most likely, revision surgery to replace the implant.

The association between metal debris leaching into nearby tissue and bone, weakening the body’s ability to keep the hip implant stable has led to the Stryker Accolade hip implant recall.

Hip Implant Heads Also Part of Problem

Last year, Stryker Orthopedics issued a voluntary recall of its hip implant heads, specifically the LFIT V40 femoral heads.

There are indications that the stem is too small to properly secure the head.

The stems are made with rough surfaces designed to encourage the patient’s bone to grow into the stem to stabilize the mechanism. The stem is then a permanent part of the femur bone that means the femur most often requires being fractured in order to remove the defective parts.

When the stem has been in place long enough to have bone grown deeply into it, the operation becomes complicated and many surgeons refuse to attempt removal.

Sometimes, the femur has to be cut in half in order to remove the stem. Wires and cables are used to repair the femur and prepare it for a replacement stem.

Revision surgery doesn’t solve all the patient’s problems. Metal debris is so small and travels so easily through the tissues that surgeons cannot remove all of it.

The health journal Orthopedics published a 2012 study in that determined 95 percent of patients needed revision surgery within three years when their original metal-on-metal hip replacement surgery failed.

If you have received surgery using components subject to the Stryker Accolade hip implant recall, you could be eligible for compensation through a class action lawsuit.