FDA Recalls more than 40,000 Stryker LFIT Anatomic V40 Femoral Heads, Patients at Risk of Severe Injuries and Painful Replacement Surgeries
In what may be one of the largest hip replacement device recalls in the last decade, The Food and Drug Administration has officially recalled the Stryker LFIT Anatomic V40 Femoral Head. The device is used during total hip replacement procedures and according to the recall more than 40,000 of these devices were manufactured and potentially implanted in hip replacement patients in the US and worldwide.
In 2016, Stryker began notifying surgeons and hospitals that it had recorded high numbers of taper lock failures on the LFIT Anatomic V40 Femoral Head manufactured from 2006 through March 2011. A hip replacement system includes taper lock, which connects the femoral head (ball joint) to the femoral neck (lower section of joint). According to Stryker, when the taper lock fails patient are at risk of several injuries due to:
- Excessive debris, metal or polymeric
- Fractured hip stem
- Femoral head separating from hip stem
- Insufficient range of motion
- Insufficient tension in soft tissue
- Noise emanating from hip joint
- Shortened neck length
For a hip replacement patient, injuries can be varied and leave the patient in severe pain. Some of the injuries due to a faulty LFIT Anatomic V40 Femoral Head may include:
- Instability in joint
- Hip dislocation
- Loss of mobility
- Adverse tissue reactions
- Pain, requiring revision surgery
- Inflammation
- Revision surgery for alleviation of hazardous health condition
- Pain from loosened implant
- Discrepancy in leg length
Meyers & Flowers has a long history of litigating cases against Stryker and similar device manufacturers for their defective metal-on-metal hip replacement products such as the LFIT Anatomic V40 Femoral Head.
In December 2016, Peter J. Flowers, as the chair of the Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) Plaintiffs’ lead counsel committee against Stryker Corporation and Howmedica Osteonics Corp., brokered a settlement for on-going complications involving the defective Stryker Modular Rejuvenate and ABG II Femoral Hip Implants. His work also was instrumental in reaching the historic, unlimited compensation fund of more than one billion dollars in restitution established in late 2014 for the Stryker devices.
The LFIT Anatomic V40 Femoral Head was widely distributed and the recall could potentially affect more than 40,000 patients in the U.S. and worldwide.
If you or a loved one has been affected or injured by this product, contact our office to explore your legal options. Meyers & Flowers is nationally known for our expertise in defective metal-on-metal hip replacement litigation; we can help. Contact us online, (630) 232-6333 or request a free case evaluation online (add link).