A woman has filed a Stryker femoral head lawsuit, alleging she has suffered injuries and economic loss because of the defective hip implant component. Her lawsuit joins a large MDL against Stryker.

Cheryl F. says her left hip was implanted with an LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 Femoral Head and an Accolade TMZF Femoral Stem in March 2010.

Although Cheryl’s complaint indicates she has not yet scheduled the Stryker femoral head to be removed, she allegedly has incurred severe injuries from the metal-on-metal hip implant system.

Stryker Femoral Head Issues

The Stryker V40 femoral head consists of a cobalt and chromium alloy. The Accolade TMZF femoral stem is made of a proprietary metal alloy consisting of titanium, molybdenum, zirconium and iron. The pairing of the differing metals allegedly causes corrosion as they scrape against one another in normal movement.

“Stryker’s proprietary TMZG titanium alloy causes a significant amount of toxic corrosion when it is implanted in contact with CoCr (cobalt/chrome), like the LFIT V40 femoral head,” alleges the Stryker femoral head lawsuit.

The LFIT V40 femoral heads made before 2011 were the subject of an Urgent Medical Device Recall Notification in August 2016. Patients allegedly had reported severe side effects related to a problem known as tape lock failure.

“Although all Stryker V40 stems are subject to failure when mated with a V40 chrome cobalt head, TMZF stems are prone to failure when used in combination with LFIT V40 heads,” alleges the Stryker femoral head lawsuit.

Cheryl F.’s hip implant system consists of the Stryker LFIT V40 chrome cobalt head and the TMZF stem.

Component Corrosion

The Stryker femoral head lawsuit alleges the company should have known that severe and unusual corrosion would occur when the two dissimilar metals came in contact with normal movement. The corrosion causes premature hip implant failure, which places a patient at risk of a complex, painful revision surgery.

Corrosion and fretting create metal debris, which can damage localized tissue, can result in tissue death (necrosis). Pseudotumors are masses of tissue forming around the implant when the body reacts to the metal-on-metal implant as a foreign object. The masses of tissue resemble a tumor, but consist of fluid and benign cells.

The cobalt and chromium from the Stryker femoral head can also leach into the nearby tissue and enter the blood stream. A simple blood test can gauge the levels of cobalt and chromium in the body, and patients have suffered from metal poisoning as a result of the metal ions entering their system.

The Stryker femoral head lawsuit alleges the company knew or should have known that the differing metals would hasten the failure of the metal-on-metal hip implant system.

The Stryker Femoral Head Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-11030 and is part of the Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head MDL, In re: Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2768, in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.