Doctors Report Corrosion and Infection with Stryker Rejuvenate Hip Replacements

Washington, DCResults from a paper recently published in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS), implicates the Stryker Rejuvenate hip implants as the cause of severe tissue reaction requiring revision surgery in 11 patients. Moreover, it is noted in an accompanying commentary, that severe corrosion of the Rejuvenate system is likely the cause of implant failure.

In total, 11 patients underwent 12 implants involving a Stryker Rejuvenate modular femoral stem design using a titanium-molybdenum-zirconium-iron alloy body (TMZF;Stryker) matched with a modular cobalt-chromium alloy neck.

The case reports show that at roughly 8 months on average, following their respective surgeries, all the patients presented with new onset pain. The results from tissue samples taken during their surgeries were quite disturbing, revealing “marked necrosis and dense lymphocytic infiltrates in the majority of cases.” The authors also reported, “Pale-green chromium phosphate particles, byproducts of corrosion, were observed in many of the samples.” And that finding is what the experts believe is possibly “the most compelling piece of evidence for the cause of failure, the presence of severe corrosion at the femoral neck-body junction and, to a lesser degree, at the articular femoral head-neck junction in all of the retrieved femoral components.”

The Stryker Rejuvenate hip replacement device has been linked to an increased risk of metallosis. Although the Stryker Rejuvenate is not a metal-on-metal hip device, it has metal-on-metal components, which are believed to be responsible for the development of metallosis in some patients. According to reports, the Stryker Rejuvenate hip implant device is linked to a high early failure rate, resulting in some patients having revision surgery to replace their hip replacement device, which is exactly what was reported in this series of case reports in the JBJS.

The phsyicians who wrote the paper are from the Departments of Orthopedic Surgery at 1) Rush University Medical Center, Chicago; 2) Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, and; 3) Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.