Apparatus for positioning the angle of a bone cutting guide

• US 20020198531A1
• Filed: 06/24/2002
• Published: 12/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aesculap AG (B. Braun Holding GmbH & Co. KG)
• Original Assignee: Aesculap Incorporated (Sartorius AG)
• Inventors: Millard, Thierry, Friedrich, Dirk
• Granted Patent: US 6,712,824 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/87
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/154 for preparing bone for knee prosthesis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/155 Cutting femur
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/157 Cutting tibia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/10 Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/20 Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis

Abstract

An apparatus for positioning the cutting angle of a bone cutting guide, wherein said bone is preferably a tibia and/or a femur, which includes first fastening means to fasten the positioning apparatus to the bone such that the whole of said apparatus and said fastening means of said cutting guide can rotate relative to the fastening axis; and second fastening means to fasten said positioning apparatus at a second fastening location onto said bone different from the first fastening location, so as to fix said apparatus at a required position within said rotation relative to said first fastening axis.

Claims

1. An apparatus for positioning the cutting angle (P) of a bone cutting guide (G;

G′

), wherein said bone is preferably a tibia and/or a femur, comprising;

first fastening means to fasten said positioning apparatus to a bone such that all of said apparatus and cutting guide fastening means can rotate relative to the fastening axis;

second fastening means to fasten said positioning apparatus at a second fastening location onto said bone, different from the first fastening location, such that said apparatus is fixed in a required position within said rotation relative to said first fastening axis;

first adjusting means for adjusting the orientation of the cutting angle in rotation relative to a second axis perpendicular to said first fastening axis, wherein said orientation is known as the antero posterior slope; and

second adjusting means to adjust the height of said cutting guide relative to said positioning apparatus along the third axis perpendicular to the two previous axes, wherein said two previous axes are the fastening axis and the second axis.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in that said first fastening means includes a first bore implemented within the body of said positioning apparatus and a screw to be screwed or introduced within said first bore in order to be fastened into said bone;

and said second fastening means includes a second bore parallel to said first bore and a second screw to be screwed or introduced within said second bore so as to be fastened into said bone.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said first adjusting means includes two brackets mounted perpendicular to said fastening axes, wherein said two brackets are linked to said fastening means of said cutting guide and are linked to one another by a transversal bracket which is perpendicular to said two brackets and also perpendicular to said fastening axis, and a stem partially threaded and preferably actioned by a knob which acts upon said transversal bracket to move it in the direction of said fastening axis relative to the body of said positioning apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said two vertical brackets slide in said third direction relative to said main body when a knob is actioned, whereby the height of the cutting guider to which they are fixed is adjusted by means of said fastening means relative to the body of said cutting guide and thus relative to the bone to which said cutting guide is fastened to.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein precision adjusting means are further included for precisely adjusting the rotation angle relative to said first fastening axis.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said precision adjusting means result from said first bore being slidably mounted relative to the main body of said apparatus by means of a stem actioned by a knob.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cutting guide or the positioning apparatus thereof include a sensor to position said cutting angle (P) within a space, whereby said positioning takes place within a system known as CAMSP.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that it includes fastening means that may be removed from said cutting guide, which includes clasping pegs to be clasped within respective lodgings implemented within said cutting guides.

9. The method of using a positioning apparatus according to claim 1 for a tibia as well as a femur.

10. The method of using a cutting guide including an apparatus for positioning the cutting angle (P) of a bone cutting guide (G;

G′

), wherein said bone is preferably a tibia and/or a femur, which includes

first fastening means to fasten the positioning apparatus to the bone such that the whole of said apparatus and said fastening means of said cutting guide can rotate relative to the fastening axis; and

second fastening means to fasten said positioning apparatus at a second fastening location onto said bone different from the first fastening location, so as to fix said apparatus at a required position within said rotation relative to said first fastening axis,

wherein said method includes the steps of;

firstly fastening said positioning apparatus at a location following a first fastening axis;

rotating said apparatus relative to said fastening axis up to a required position when it is so fastened, and then only

fastening said positioning apparatus at a second location following a second fastening axis.