Articles Tagged with UHMWPE

Frequently Asked Questions: Exactech Hip, Knee and Ankle Implants

Published on: August 3, 2022 | By Clay Hodges

Exactech Inc. (Exactech) is a company that makes various products to repair or replace joints in the human body. Some of Exactech’s biggest selling products have been replacement joints for hips, knees and ankles. Unfortunately, there have been some problems with certain products suffering from premature wear and other issues. This has led to some patients getting revision surgery to fix the issue and repair damage caused to the human body. Exactech has also started various product recalls involving certain knee, ankle and hip implants. I have prepared the following Exactech FAQs so you can learn more about this problem and what to do if you’re affected.

1. What Exactech Products Have Been Recalled?

The recall involves two groups of products. The first group relates to certain batches of Exactech’s Connexion GXL acetabular hip liners. The second group relates to specific ankle and knee polyethylene liners and inserts, many of which were manufactured in 2004 or later. Some of these products have been sold under the following brands:

Exactech Hip, Ankle and Knee Liners: What’s Wrong With the Packaging?

Published on: June 28, 2022 | By Clay Hodges

Before we talk about Exactech liners and defective packaging, we need to talk about oxygen. Oxygen is necessary for human life, but it’s a fairly reactive chemical element. We don’t think of oxygen as damaging but it can be very reactive. A perfect example of how reactive oxygen can be is fire. Get most things hot enough and they’ll start to react with the oxygen in the air and oxidize rapidly. In other words, they’ll start to burn.

This reactivity many things have to oxygen is one of the major reasons why there’s a recall for Exactech’s hip, knee and ankle implants. No, they don’t catch on fire, but they may have been exposed to too much oxygen before implantation. This could lead to premature wear, damage to bones and the implant breaking while inside the body.

How did the implants come into contact with too much oxygen? It appears to be the result of faulty packaging. Let’s take a closer look at what was wrong with the packaging and why that has allegedly led to problems with the Exactech implants.

Exactech Recall of Plastic Hip, Knee, Ankle Joint Replacement Liners

Published on: June 1, 2022 | By Clay Hodges

Several years ago I wrote a blog post for my product liability website where I encouraged medical device manufacturers to put me out of business. What I meant by writing that article was to say that I would be happy as a lawyer to move on to other practice areas on the day that medical device companies properly tested their medical devices before they put them on the market, ran the appropriate clinical testing, carefully reviewed the studies that came back, monitored the patients who receive the medical devices, and didn’t misrepresent the products in their marketing and advertising materials.

And if all that occurred and product defect injuries dropped through the floor, then I would happily stop practicing product liability litigation and move on to other practice areas. Or go work at my neighborhood bookstore (Quail Ridge Books).

But I also said in that article that it’s unlikely that I would be changing my line of work any time soon, and that was six years ago. And here we are, today, and it’s still the case that there is plenty of work for me to do.

Exactech Hip, Knee and Ankle Liners: Studies Behind the Recall

Published on: March 21, 2022 | By Clay Hodges

Earlier I wrote about how Exactech was recalling many of its ankle, hip and knee liner implants. These recalls were based, at least in part, on several studies about how these implants could suffer from premature wear. This could then require patients to need revision surgery (surgery to repair problems from an earlier surgery) to fix the defective artificial joint.

In this blog post, I’ll take a look at some of these studies and try to explain what these studies found, what their findings mean and why they prompted Exactech to initiate these recalls.

The Materials Used in the Hip, Knee and Ankle Inserts or Liners

Recall Alert: Exactech Hip, Knee and Ankle Plastic Liner Implants

Published on: March 4, 2022 | By Clay Hodges

Exactech Inc. (Exactech) began as a company in 1985 and focuses on developing products for joint replacement. Many of Exactech’s products are used for ankle, knee and hip arthroplasty (surgery to repair or replace a joint in the human body).

Many of Exactech’s joint replacement products have performed well and improved the lives of patients. But over the last fear years, Exactech has learned from multiple studies that some of its ankle, knee and hip products can suffer from premature wear or other problems. Many of these issues could result in the need for patients to undergo revision surgery to replace the device and repair any damage it may have caused to the bone and/or soft tissue.

Exactech has initiated various recalls in response to these problems. The purpose of this blog post is to provide a brief overview of which products have been affected, what’s wrong with these products and what you can do if you’ve had one implanted into your body.

★★★★★

I was involved in a case for the faulty hip replacements. Clay Hodges represented me. I can't say enough about how much he has helped me. Clay was able to win multiple settlements on my behalf with most of them being the maximum amount able to be awarded. Matt J.

Clay, thank you sir for making a disheartening experience at least palatable, you and your staff were honest, caring and understanding through the entire process of my wife’s hip replacements, while monetary settlements never make the pain and suffering end, it sometimes is the only way people can fight back to right a wrong. J. V.

We are absolutely pleased with how Clay Hodges handled my husband’s hip replacement claim. He always kept us informed of the progress. And, his work resulted in a settlement which we are extremely pleased. Thank you, Clay! Carol L. & Norm L.