A woman who says she suffered injuries as a result of components involved in her hip implant’s V40 femoral head recall has filed a lawsuit.

Plaintiff Jennifer B. says she received a right hip implant that included a Stryker LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 Femoral Head and the Accolade TMZF Femoral Stem in July 2007. She alleges she endured the removal of the femoral head on April 2, 2018.

Jennifer’s lawsuit joins an MDL against Howmedica Osteonics Corp., the manufacturer of the Stryker parts following the V40 femoral head recall. 

The V40 femoral head recall may affect patients who received the Stryker femoral head and an Accolade femoral stem made of different metals. The metal-on-metal hip system allegedly causes tiny shards of metal to shave away as the parts scrape against one another in normal, daily range of motion.

The V40 femoral head is made of cobalt and chromium, and the Accolade TMZF is consists of a proprietary titanium alloy consisting of titanium, aluminum, and vanadium, which was designed and patented by Howmedica.

The Stryker V40 femoral head can only fit the Accolade TMZF femoral stem when a Morse taper is used. The Morse taper is described as a cone within a cone that enables the head and stem to fit each other when a surgeon hammers them together with a special impacting tool.

According to the MDL, a failed taper interface causes the components to scrape against each other, promoting corrosion and causing the fretting away of the metals, even though marketing materials said no fretting or corrosion would occur.

Howmedica instituted the V40 femoral head recall because once the metals begin to fret or corrode, the component must be removed to resolve the problem.

“Scientists have reported the occurrence of significant fretting and corrosion caused by the combination of dissimilar metals and/or micro-motion at the junction between the stem trunnion and head bore for decades,” alleges the V40 femoral head recall MDL.

V40 Femoral Head Recall Reasons

Once the metal-on-metal head and stem start to fret away tiny shards of metal, there is no way for these pieces to leave the body. Metal shavings settle into the nearby tissue where they cause inflammation and fluid retention as the body tries to expel the irritating foreign matter. Over time, tissue will die and the metals will poison the bones and enter the bloodstream.

Patients suffering from metal poisoning might not realize it until a blood test indicates elevated levels of cobalt or chromium.

Symptoms of problems linked to the V40 femoral head recall include chronic pain, inflammation, swelling around the hip joint, dislocation, impaired mobility, and instability. In some cases, the bone around the implant can become fractured.

The V40 Femoral Head Recall Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-11562 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 for the District of Massachusetts.