Metal Hip Implant Suffers Catastrophic Failure

My research focuses on tribology, which covers friction, wear, and corrosion of orthopedic implants. I work at the cutting edge of designing new devices, and my work in orthopedics is currently funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. I also have experience working as an expert witness on several cases related to failure of hip implants. I have worked on a case with simple and multi-modular designs, as is the case with the device in question here, and I am intimately familiar with the failure modes of these devices and interfaces. The facts of this case seem to indicate that wear was the cause of failure here, which is indeed a significant problem in modular devices. In particular “fretting wear”, caused by reciprocating micro-motion, is of primary concern in these types of devices. The case description mentions “fracture” of the head, which may or may not be the result of wear, however it is likely that wear was at the heart of the issue here. Currently, my research is on designing orthopedic implants. My background is “mechanical design”, and I am the Chair of the Design and Manufacturing division within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at a major university. I am one of the few people who do rigorous academic research on design of orthopedic hip implants, as opposed to clinical trial-error based “research”.