A woman from Massachusetts has filed a Stryker LFIT hip lawsuit over complications she says were caused by a defective hip implant.

Plaintiff Christine M. says she underwent hip replacement surgery in November 2010. She was implanted with an Accolade TMZF hip stem and an LFIT V40 femoral head. Both those components are products of defendants Stryker Corp. and Howmedica Osteonics Corp., the latter of which does business as Stryker Orthopaedics.

According to her Stryker LFIT hip lawsuit, after her surgery, Christine says she started experiencing discomfort near the site of the implant and a lack of proper rotation in her hip.

Blood work revealed she had high levels of cobalt and chromium in her blood, and imaging studies revealed a lot of metal debris surrounding her implant. She was diagnosed with significant trunnionosis.

Christine says she underwent revision surgery in December 2016 to remove her Stryker hip implant. Her surgeon noted significant corrosion at the taper junction where the Accolade stem connects to the LFIT V40 femoral head.

The surgeon also noted “significant metallosis and trunnionosis in the Plaintiff’s hip resulting in soft tissue damage.”

Since her revision surgery, Christine says, she has had to undergo extensive rehabilitation. She attributes her complications and the resulting need for revision surgery to defects in the design of the Accolade stem and the LFIT V40 femoral head.

Stryker’s Accolade Stem and LFIT V40 Femoral Head

The Accolade stem that Christine was implanted with is one part of Stryker’s modular hip implant system. It’s designed to anchor the artificial femoral head to the top end of the patient’s thigh bone. Stryker makes the Accolade out of a proprietary alloy of titanium, molybdenum, zinc and iron.

The LFIT V40 femoral head is designed to take the place of the patient’s natural femoral head. It attaches to the implanted femoral stem. The opposite side of the LFIT inserts into the acetabular cup component implanted in the hip bone.

These LFIT V40 femoral heads are available both in zirconia ceramic or in a “Vitallium” alloy made of cobalt, chromium and molybdenum, according to Christine’s Stryker LFIT hip lawsuit.

Stryker says laboratory testing demonstrates that this stem and femoral head are compatible without creating a risk of fretting or corrosion, even though they may be made of different metals.

However, after-market reports revealed instances in which the Accolade-LFIT V40 combination resulted in corrosion severe enough to cause catastrophic failure. Such corrosion can release significant amounts of metallic particles into the surrounding tissue, causing tissue death.

Some stems have reportedly developed corrosion severe enough to cause them to disconnect from the femoral head. This malfunction can result in significant injury to the patient’s hip.

Stryker LFIT Hip Lawsuit Cites Lack of an Adequate Warning

In her Stryker LFIT hip lawsuit, Christine says none of the information she got prior to undergoing her original hip replacement surgery gave her a reason to suspect that the implant to be used was defective.

She claims Howmedica and Stryker purposely concealed information about the risk of complications associated with the Accolade stem and LFIT femoral head.

Despite exercising her own diligence in getting herself informed, the companies’ failure to disclose essential product information prevented her from making an adequately informed decision, Christine claims.

Christine’s Stryker LFIT Hip Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-10411 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.