Zimmer Persona knee replacement problems have been plaguing the patient population and medical community, with injury reports indicating that the device’s tibial plate component may be defective.

Many patients who opted for the Zimmer Persona knee replacement and suffered complications soon after surgery, and were forced to undergo revision surgery to resolve these problems.

The number of injury reports eventually spurred Zimmer to recall the Persona TM (Trabecular Metal) Tibial Plate in March 2015, due to troubling device failure reports. According to these injury reports, the Zimmer Persona tibial plates in question were loosening and ultimately moved out of position.

The Zimmer Persona TM tibial plate recall affected 12,000 components, with the FDA stating all lots and sizes of the tibial plate were impacted. It is important to note that this was a Class II recall, which is reserved for medical products that have been proven to cause reversible or temporary harm to patients.

According to the injury reports that spurred the Zimmer Persona TM tibial plate recall, the two major complications associated with device failure are:

• Radiolucent Lines: The gaps or spaces between the tibial plate and bone, which indicates “poor seating.” This occurs when the implant shifts out of the initial position of the implant and is often followed by device loosening.
• Loosening: The TM tibial plate comes loose from its initial implant position, with Zimmer stating it “is one of the most prevalent causes for revision in total knee arthroplasty.”

Overview of Zimmer Persona Knee Replacement Concern

The Zimmer Persona knee replacement is typically recommended for patients who sustained a serious knee injury from a traumatic incident or damage from a deteriorating disease.

The Zimmer Persona Trabecular TM tibial plate is a metal component of the Persona knee replacement system, which is implanted into the bone without the use of cement. The tibial plate component attaches directly to the tibia bone by using two pegs that are inserted into the bone.

By utilizing these pegs, the Zimmer Persona tibial plate is supposed to “grow” into the tibia bone and provide stability for the Zimmer Persona knee replacement system. Knee replacement surgery is one of the most common procedures conducted in the United States, where millions of patients have already undergone the procedure.

Approximately 600,000 patients undergo knee replacement surgery in the United States alone, with injury reports of knee implant complications increasing each year.

The Zimmer Persona knee replacement is one of the knee implants associated with a large number of failure reports, with many of these patients needing to undergo revision surgery.

Patients who suffered complications from the Zimmer Persona knee replacement indicated a number of side effects in injury reports, including but not limited to:

• Persistent Pain
• Loosening of Device
• Lack of Ingrowth
• Component Failure
• Loss of Fixation
• Globally Tight Knee
• Instability
• Fracture
• Patella Tracking Issues