According to an aspect, a spacing element for spacing a fixation plate away from a bone to which the fixation plate is secured is provided. The spacing element has a body with a bone interface side and a plate interface side and sidewalls extending thereinbetween, said bone interface side having a bone contacting surface having contours conforming to surface contours of the bone. A corresponding fixation plate, fixation plate kit, and method for designing a patient-specific spacing element are also provided.

A method is provided for determining the shape of a surgical linking device that is to be attached to a bony body structure such as the spinal column based on digitized locations of a plurality of attachment elements engaged to the bony structure. The method is implemented by a computer system through a GUI to generate an initial bend curve to mate with the plurality of attachment elements. The initial bend curve may be simplified based on user input to the GUI to reduce the number of bends necessary to produce a well-fitting linking device and may be altered to help obtain the goals of surgery.

The present invention provides a method for generating a bone fixation implant and related preoperative planning. The method comprises a first step of determining at least the orientation and the position of the fixation means, based on a 3D model of the bone fragments. The method may include a second step of defining the shape of one or more bone plates, based on the output of the first step. The method may further include a third step determining tools for applying fixation means during surgery, according the optimized configuration defined in the first step and applying the bone plates from the second step. The method may even further include a fourth step, quantifying construct stability for a given patient following surgery, thereby allowing early weightbearing.

A method includes obtaining, via one or more processors, three-dimensional data representing a patient's bone, obtaining, via the one or more processors, three-dimensional data representing at least portions of a patient specific bone jig, the patient specific bone jig having an inner surface portion matched to an outer surface portion of the patient's bone, obtaining, via the one or more processors, image data representing the at least portions of the patient specific bone jig registered to the patient's bone, and generating, via the one or more processors, data representing a location and an orientation of the patient's bone based on the obtained image data, the obtained three-dimensional data representing the patient specific bone jig, and the obtained three-dimensional data representing the patient's bone. In another embodiment, a patient specific bone jig with predetermined spatial indicia registered to a portion of the patient's bone may be employed with point sampling.

A surgical planning and evaluation method may include receiving an image of a patient's anatomy before a surgery and generating a surgical plan for performing the surgery. The surgical plan may include a planned surgical result. The method may include receiving an image of the patient's anatomy after surgery. The image may include data representing the achieved surgical result. The method may include digitally comparing the planned surgical result with the achieved surgical result and generating a quantification the surgical result based on the digital comparison.

The patient-specific hemivertebral surgical guide has a body with an aiming passage for guiding an instrument and a coupling face, arranged on a distal side of the body and specific to a patient so as to be applied in bespoke contact with the bone material of only one half, either left or right, of the vertebra. The coupling face has a morphology-adapted surface congruent with the posterior face of the lamina of the half of the vertebra and including peripheral portions located respectively in anteroposterior line with the lower edge of the lamina and the lateral edge of the isthmus of the half of the vertebra, and positioning studs protruding correspondingly from the peripheral portions. The morphology-adapted surface and the positioning studs are shaped so as to cooperate by matching shapes with the posterior face of the lamina, the lower edge of the lamina and the lateral edge of the isthmus, respectively, so as to maintain the body in a unique position.

A number of orthopaedic surgical instruments are disclosed. A method, apparatus, and system for fabricating such instruments are also disclosed.

An orthopaedic surgical instrument comprising a metallic customized patient-specific surgical instrument is disclosed. The metallic customized patient-specific surgical instrument includes a base plate sized to be positioned on a resected surface of a distal end of a patient's femur, an anterior resection guide body attached to, and extending from, the distal surface of the base plate to a free distal end, a posterior resection guide body attached to, and extending from, the distal surface to a free distal end, and a pair of chamfer resection guide bodies attached to, and extending from, the distal surface.

A system includes a cartridge having an elongate body extending from a first end to a second end and having a top side and a bottom side. The cartridge defines a first hole adjacent to the first end that extends through the cartridge from the bottom side to the top side. The top side of the cartridge defines a pair of parallel slots that extend perpendicular with respect to a longitudinal axis of the cartridge. Each slot of the pair of parallel slots is equidistant from a central axis defined by the first hole.

A patient-specific registration jig for registering an orthopaedic surgical instrument with a bony anatomy of a patient includes a head and an adaptor coupled to the head. The head includes a patient-specific contact surface configured to contact a portion of the patient's bony anatomy such that the head can be coupled to the patient's bony anatomy in a unique position. The adaptor includes an elongated shank having a first end coupled to the head and a second end and an adaptor end attached to the second end of the elongated shank. The adaptor end is configured to be received by a clutch of the orthopaedic surgical instrument. A method for registering the orthopaedic surgical instrument using the patient-specific registration jig is also disclosed.