Stryker Hip Device Complications

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Stryker Hip Implant Complications

People who have the Rejuvenate Modular Hip Neck, Rejuvenate Modular Hip Neck, ABG II Modular Hip Stem, or ABG II Modular Hip Neck have experienced serious complications because of the wear and corrosion at the junction of the neck and stem components, including:

Excessive Metal Debris In The Surrounding Tissue And Bloodstream

Metal debris can destroy tissue and pollute the bloodstream with metal.  This can result in pain, inflammation, and metallosis and the need for a revision surgery.

In the Rejuvenate Modular Hip Neck, Rejuvenate Modular Hip Neck, ABG II Modular Hip Stem, or ABG II Modular Hip Neck, the metal neck and the metal head wear against one another.  This sends metal debris into the surrounding tissue and bloodstream. The Stryker necks are made of chromium and cobalt.  The Stryker stems are coated with titanium.  These hard metals grind against one another as the hip joint moves with regular activity.

This grinding causes metal shavings from the neck and stem to release into the surrounding tissue and bloodstream.  Metallosis occurs when the metal shavings deposit into the healthy tissue surrounding the implant.  This metal debris kills tissue.  Healthy, pink tissue becomes gray or black in color as the metal settles into the body.

Chromium and cobalt can be detected in the urine and bloodstreams.  Most often, doctors use a blood test to determine whether patients have elevated chromium and cobalt levels.

Some people may notice lumps, or pseudo-tumors, form under their skin.  These fluid-filled sacs are the body's attempt to isolate the poisonous metal.  Often, these pseudo-tumors do not appear on the skin's surface and can only be identified using an MRI.

Once chromium and cobalt hip implants are removed from the body, it takes time for the chromium and cobalt to leave the system.  Some people have toxic levels of these metals in their systems for more than a year after the hip implants are removed.

There is no consensus in the scientific or medical community about what long-term effects these metals may have on the body.  There has been some research on cobalt poisoning.  According to the Alaska Department of Epidemiology, cobalt levels of 5 are considered toxic.  That state says that signs and symptoms of cobalt poisoning can include visual impairment, cardiomyopathy, cognitive impairment, auditory impairment, hypothyroidism, peripheral neuropathy, rashes, blindness, deafness, heart failure, peripheral neuropathy, and hypothyroidism.

Excessive Fretting Can Cause Surrounding Bone to Dissolve

The neck and stem grinding and wear can cause a condition called osteolysis.  With osteolysis, the bone essentially dissolves around the metal hardware, and the implant loosens, resulting in the need for a revision surgery.

  • Pain And/Or Swelling Around The Hip
  • Difficulty Climbing Stairs
  • Difficulty With Hip Flexion
  • The Need For A Revision Surgery

Protect your legal rights.

Contact Dean Goetz at 858-481-8844 today.

$8.3 Million Reasons to Choose Dean as your Attorney
Metal on Metal Hip Device Recall - Depuy

Dean A. Goetz and the Gomez Law Firm were the attorneys for Mr. Loren Kranksy, the Plaintiff in the first Depuy trial in the USA. 3/6/13 at 9:38 a.m. PST A jury found Depuy liable to Mr. Loren Bill Kransky today in a Los Angeles Superior Court. FIRST verdict in the USA against Depuy for $8,328,000. We Are The Kransky Lawyers. Kranksy vs. Depuy and Johnson and Johnson, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case #BC456086.

It took three and one half more years for this to finally end for Mr. Kransky's family, on 7/21/16 Court of Appeals Upholds Kransky v. Depuy.

November 2017: Dean Goetz with Mr. Kransky's full legal team Nominated (PDF press release) for Consumer Attorneys of California Attorney of the Year 2017  for our work in Kransky vs. Depuy, and Mr. Kransky's long road to justice.

The Walking Wounded - Dean Goetz interviewed on ABC (Australia ABC, a show similar to USA "60 Minutes") Investigative Report - watch the whole investigative story on Depuy, aired 5/26/14, "Reporter Quentin McDermott reveals how a healthcare giant deceived doctors and patients using its ASR hip replacement implant." Australian Depuy class action cases go to trial in 2015, and those injured by their hip devices are now armed with what came out in Mr. Kransky's trial..