Laser triangulation of the femoral head for total knee arthroplasty alignment instruments and surgical method
First Claim
1. A method of locating a center of a femoral head of a human leg of a patient having a femur, knee joint with a distal femur, tibia and femoral head, the method including the steps of:
- a. mounting a laser beam generator on said knee joint;
b. shining a laser beam emanating from said generator toward a target located adjacent said femoral head;
c. aligning said laser beam with respect to said target to locate said center of said femoral head.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An Extramedullary system of alignment for total knee arthroplasties uses a small diode laser at the center of the knee adjustable to the longitudinal axis of the femur to triangulate the center of the femoral head. It utilizes a V-Frame positioning device that fits into the distal femoral intercondylar notch and is tangent to the articular surfaces of the notch. It is also parallel to the anterior femoral cortex by using a removal tongue flange that sits flat on the filed surface of the anterior cortex. This prepositions the Distal Femoral Resector Guide within a few degrees of the center of the femoral head. An adjustment knob on the V-Frame pivots the distal femoral resector guide to the exact center of the femoral head for that particular patient accomplishing fine adjustment of the longitudinal axis of the femur. There is only one position where the laser beam will go through the center of the target no matter where you position the leg and that is when the target'"'"'s bulls-eye is exactly over the rotational center of the femoral head. Since the laser confirms this position, the surgeon is assured that the alignment is accurate. The Distal Femoral Resector Guide is then fixed to bone with fixation pins and the resection made with a power saw. The laser is moved to the target mount to act as a longitudinal “laser ruler” for the remainder of the operation.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of locating a center of a femoral head of a human leg of a patient having a femur, knee joint with a distal femur, tibia and femoral head, the method including the steps of:
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a. mounting a laser beam generator on said knee joint;
b. shining a laser beam emanating from said generator toward a target located adjacent said femoral head;
c. aligning said laser beam with respect to said target to locate said center of said femoral head. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system for locating a center of a femoral head of a patient, said patient having a leg with a femoral head having a center, a femur, distal femur, knee joint and tibia, said system comprising:
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a. a frame attachable to a center of a distal femoral intercondylar notch of said distal femur;
b. a laser beam generator mountable on an adjustable distal femoral resector pivotable on a frame mounted at said distal femur of said patient;
c. a target mountable over said femoral head;
d. whereby with said generator mounted on said distal femur and said target mounted adjacent said femoral head, a laser beam from said generator may be shined toward said target, and position of said target and generator may be adjusted to align said laser beam over the center of said femoral head. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A system for locating a center of a femoral head of a patient, said patient having a leg with a femoral head having a center, a femur, distal femur, knee joint and tibia, said system comprising:
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a) a frame attachable to said distal femur;
b) a light beam generator mountable on said frame;
c) a target mountable over said femoral head;
d) whereby, with said generator mounted on said frame and said target mounted adjacent said femoral head, a light beam from said generator may be shined toward said target, and position of said target and generator may be adjusted to align said light beam over the center of said femoral head.
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Specification