A method for preparing a bone of a joint of a patient includes mounting a patient-specific reference guide on a bone of a joint of a patient. A connecting portion of the reference guide is coupled to a miniaturized numerically controlled instrument having a housing including a controller, a processor and a tool driver. The patient-specific reference guide has a three-dimensional inner surface preoperatively configured to mirror and mate with a corresponding surface of a bone of a joint of a patient in only one position. The patient-specific reference guide is configured to automatically register the numerically controlled instrument to the patient's bone portion intraoperatively. The cutting tool is guided by the controlled with signals from the processor along a patient-specific tool path determined during the preoperative plan for preparing a portion of the bone.

Implementations described and claimed herein provide an arthroplasty system for making resections in a patient knee. In one implementation, the system includes a femoral cutting guide having a patient specific mating region, and a distal planar surface distally spaced from a distal resection surface based on thicknesses of femoral and tibial implants. The distal planar surface may be used to check ligament balance. The system further includes a tibial cutting guide having a patient specific mating region and a an anchor pin hole intersecting with a proximal resection slot near a medial or lateral edge of the proximal resection slot. The anchor pin hole being configured to receive an anchor pin that may serve as a sawing stop during a proximal resection.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common disease affecting human joints. Mechanical stress through the joint is one of the most important independent etiological factors. The present invention provides a prosthesis that by passes some of the stress from the joint without destroying the joint surface. It allows may provide a full range of joint movement, while sharing the load with the physiological joint, thereby maintaining the viability of the physiological joint surface. In addition, the prosthesis can accommodate native soft tissue structures in or around the joint, such as ligaments.

A patient-specific drill template for spine screw placement includes a hook-shaped main body, and an insertion guiding portion that guides a spine screw to be inserted into a vertebra. The main body includes a tight contact portion and a hook portion, the tight contact portion connecting with insertion guiding portion, the hook portion extending from the tight contact portion, and the main body partially surrounds the vertebra. A method of preparing a patient-specific drill template for spine screw placement includes preparing a three-dimensional computed tomography of a lumbar or thoracic spine in a hospital; transferring the CT data to the manufacturing facility using a network; processing the computed tomography to generate a three-dimensional reconstruction template of the patient-specific drill template in the facility; preparing the patient-specific drill template based on the reconstruction template; packaging the template and sterilizing the patient-specific drill template.

The invention relates to surgical guides which are of use during reconstructive bone surgery for guiding a surgical instrument or tool. More particularly, the guides are characterized in that they are fitted to the implant rather than to the bone.

A device for the patient-specific, individual anatomic placement of bore channels when attaching artificial ligaments to bones, namely for use in placing boreholes on the thigh and lower leg during anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, is provided with a probe (1) to be introduced into a joint via an arthroscopy portal and with a targeting head (2) disposed on the distal end of the probe. The targeting head (2) comprises a targeting template (3) which is produced individually using a 3-D imaging method, in particular 3-D magnetic resonance tomography (3-D-MRT) or 3-D computer tomography (3-D-CT), and which is a negative imprint of the osseous surface relief in the region where the torn ligament attaches to the bone in question, in particular where the cruciate ligament attaches to the thigh or lower leg. The targeting template (3) comprises at least one passage (4) for marking the bore channel that is to be produced on the bone, and a hand grip (7) is provided on the proximal end of the probe (1) for holding and positioning. The invention also relates to a method for producing a corresponding device.

Methods and apparatus are provided for forming a patient-specific surgical implant based on mold system. The apparatus comprises a forming tool and a mold that may be generated using imaging and processing techniques and rapid prototyping methods. The mold apparatus includes at least two non-adjacent surface features for securing an implant forming material (such as a titanium mesh) during the forming process, enabling the implant forming material to be stretched beyond its elastic and thus permanently deformed with the correct patient-specific curvature. The implant may include one or more anatomic surface features for guidance and registration when transferring the implant to a patient.

A surgical guide can include a first portion comprising an outer surface configured to conform to a portion of an acetabulum of a particular patient. The first portion can be configured to accommodate the ligamentum teres of the patient. The surgical guide can be configured to receive a second portion that includes an alignment portion defining an alignment axis such that when the surgical guide is coupled to the acetabulum, the alignment axis is oriented at a predetermined orientation relative to the acetabulum. The second portion can include a depth-limiting feature configured to limit insertion of a guide rod along the axis to a patient-specific insertion depth.

Devices and methods for performing a surgical step or surgical procedure with visual guidance using an optical head mounted display are disclosed.

A pre-operative planning and manufacturing method for orthopedic surgery includes obtaining pre-operative medical image data representing a joint portion of a patient. The method also includes constructing a three-dimensional digital model of the joint portion and manufacturing a patient-specific alignment guide for the joint portion from the three-dimensional digital model of the joint portion when the image data is sufficient to construct the three-dimensional digital model of the joint portion. The patient-specific alignment guide has a three-dimensional patient-specific surface pre-operatively configured to nest and closely conform to a corresponding surface of the joint portion of the patient in only one position relative to the joint portion. The method further includes determining, from the image data, a size of a non-custom implant to be implanted in the patient and assembling a surgical kit including the non-custom implant when there is insufficient image data to construct the patient-specific alignment guide therefrom.