Solid freeform fabrication of implant components

• US 9,636,229 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2013
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conformis Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Conformis Incorporated
• Inventors: Lang, Philipp, Slamin, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Shechtman, Sean
• Application Number:
  US14/033,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20140172111A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 700 98, 700118-120
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1764 for the knee
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/102 Modelling of surgical devices, implants or prosthesis
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/389 Tibial components A61F2/3868 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/461 of knees
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30561 breakable or frangible
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30878 with non-sharp protrusions, for instance contacting the bone for anchoring, e.g. keels, pegs, pins, posts, shanks, stems, struts
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30962 using stereolithography
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/30985 using three dimensional printing [3DP]
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/4495 having a fabric structure, e.g. made from wires or fibres
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/4619 for extraction
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/28 Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/38 to achieve specific product aspects, e.g. surface smoothness, density, porosity or hollow structures
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 2998/10 Processes characterised by the sequence of their steps
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 15/0086 welding for purposes other than joining, e.g. built-up welding
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/342 Build-up welding
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 10/00 Processes of additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 10/25 Process efficiency
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49 : Method of mechanical manufacture

Abstract

Disclosed are designs, methods and systems for manufacturing implants, implant components, features of implant components, and/or related tools using solid freeform fabrication or additive metals technologies.

Claims

1. A method of making a tibial implant component for knee joint arthroplasty, the method comprising:

designing a tibial tray, at least one anchoring peg extending from a bone-facing surface of the tibial tray;

designing an anchoring peg extending from the bone-facing surface; and

forming the implant component, based on the designs for the tibial tray and the anchoring peg, as an integral structure using an additive manufacturing process, wherein the designing of the anchoring peg includes designing at least a portion of the anchoring peg to be formed of a lattice structure comprising a plurality of generally straight individual filaments, the lattice structure extending across a cross-section of the anchoring peg, wherein the tibial tray is configured to include a substantially solid structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the designing at least a portion of the anchoring peg to be formed of a lattice structure further comprises determining, based, at least in part, on patient-specific information regarding an individual patient, at least one parameter of the lattice structure selected from the group of parameters consisting of filament width, spacing between filaments, angle of filaments, and interconnections between filaments.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a finite element analysis of the lattice structure and modifying one or more parameters of the lattice structure based on the finite element analysis.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the additive manufacturing comprises a technique selected from the group of manufacturing techniques consisting of electron beam melting, selective laser sintering, selective laser melting, stereolithography, direct metal laser sintering, three-dimensional printing, fused deposition modeling, laser curing, and laser engineered net shaping.

5. The method of claim 1, further including providing patient-specific information regarding an individual patient, wherein the step of designing the tibial tray includes using the patient-specific information to select or determine a dimension or geometry of the tibial tray.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the patient-specific information includes electronic image data of a knee joint of the individual patient.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the patient-specific information includes size and/or shape information regarding a knee joint of the individual patient.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the tibial tray and the anchoring ped are configured such that the tibial tray can be intraoperatively separated from the anchoring peg, when the anchoring peg is positioned within a patient'"'"'s tibia, by directing a cutting tool along the bone-facing surface of the tibial tray and cutting through at least a portion of the lattice structure.