Exactech Hip Replacement Lawsuit Filed Over “Poly Wear” and “Metallosis” From Defective Liner

The surgeon found extensive metallosis when the defective liner was surgically removed, according to the Exactech hip replacement lawsuit.

According to allegations raised in a product liability lawsuit filed by a Texas woman, premature wear and complications from an Exactech hip replacement resulted in the development of metal blood poisoning, known as “metallosis”, and catastrophic failure of the implant.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Lori Morrison and her husband, Timothy, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on April 19, indicating that the problems were caused by a defectively designed Connexion GXL hip liner used by Exactech, Inc.

The Exactech Connexion GXL hip liner has been used with several different models of total hip replacement systems implanted since 2008, including the Exactech Novation, Exactech Acumatch and others. However, it has recently been discovered that the polyethylene liner may fail prematurely, resulting in the need for additional surgery.

In June 2021, an Exactech hip recall was issued due to problems with Connexion GXL poly liners, which the manufacturer acknowledged is prone to deteriorate and cause a condition known as osteolysis, which destroys the surrounding bone and tissue.

Lori Morrison indicates an Exactech Connexion GXL Liner was used during her hip replacement in November 2013. However, the device had to be surgically removed in May 2020, with the surgeon determining Morrison’s implant had undergone catastrophic poly wear and due to the presence of significant metallosis, metal blood poisoning resulting in the death of tissue, throughout her hip.

“Plaintiff Lori Morrison had no comorbidities or biological conditions that caused, or contributed to cause the Defective Device to fail,” the Exactech hip replacement lawsuit states. “The Defective Device failed catastrophically in approximately 6 years due to significant polyethylene wear and osteolysis.”

The case joins a growing number of similar hip replacement lawsuits being pursued over Exactech Connexion GXL liner complications, indicating that the manufacturer was aware of the high failure rates for years, but continued to sell the defective implant components to patients, in order to continue to reap massive profits.

In addition to lawsuits over the Connexion GXL liner, a growing number of Exactech knee replacement lawsuits have been filed over the past few months, since similar problems were identified with a polytehylene insert included with Exactech Optetrak, Optetrak Logic and Truliant implants distributed since 2004, which are also prone to wear out and fail prematurely

More than 140,000 implants were impacted by a separate Exactech knee recall announced in February 2022, which