Patients who receive hip implants may not be aware that some hip implant systems carry with them a set of life-threatening side effects.

Specifically, the Stryker V40 femoral heads, as part of the Stryker hip implant system, have a unique set of problems.

Stryker V40 femoral heads are interchangeable parts of different types of hip replacement systems.

Stryker v40 femoral heads consist of cobalt and they screw on to a femoral neck. This forms the taper lock part of the artificial hip.

The companies that manufacture metal-on-metal hip replacement systems have faced quite a few lawsuits in the recent past and it seems as if the Stryker v40 femoral heads might follow suit.

There have been many recalls this year alone for the Stryker v40 femoral heads.

In August 2016, Health Canada issued a recall: “Stryker has received higher than expected complaints of taper lock failure for specific lots of certain sizes of  LFIT Anatomic COCR V40TM Femoral Heads manufactured prior to 2011.”

Later that month, another recall was issued by Stryker itself. On August 29, 2016, Stryker issued an urgent recall notification to orthopedic surgeons across the country concerning the Stryker v40 femoral heads manufactured before 2011.

Stryker instructed asked health care providers to check their inventories for any of these Stryker V40 femoral heads manufactured before 2011 and quarantine them pending return to Stryker.

More recently, on September 27, 2016, a safety alert was issued by the Australian Government and the Department of Health stating that the Stryker V40 femoral heads manufactured before 2011 have a higher than usual incidence of taper lock failures.

They list problems that can occur if the taper lock fails:

• loss of mobility
• pain
• inflammation
• adverse local tissue reaction
• dislocation
• joint instability
• broken bones around the components
• leg length discrepancy
• need for revision surgery

The Australian Department of Health also warns surgeons of the possible medical problems associated with failure of the Stryker V40 femoral heads:

• disassociation of the femoral head from the hip stem
• fractured hip stem trunnion
• increased metallic debris
• insufficient range of movement
• insufficient soft tissue tension
• noise
• loss of implant
• bone fixation strength
• increased wear debris (polymetric)
• implant construct with a shortened neck length.

Lawsuits Regarding Stryker V40 Femoral Heads

In the lawsuits that have been filed naming problems with the Stryker V40 Femoral Heads, plaintiffs allege that the hip implants utilizing them can shed bits of chromium and cobalt into the surrounding tissue.

This metal can lead to a condition known as metallosis, a metal toxicity than can cause pain, broken bones and even tissue death. Many patients even need revision surgery to address the issues.

Many Stryker hip implant lawsuits allege that these devices are defective by manufacture and design.

Plaintiffs claim Stryker failed to properly test the devices and failed to issue a proper warning to physicians and patients about the associated risks of complications.