Knee balancing for revision procedures

Abstract

Methods, systems and devices are provided for facilitating a surgical procedure on a knee, particularly, a revision total knee replacement procedure. Prior femoral and tibial prostheses are removed. A cut end of a distal femur is engaged with a femoral adjustment member, which will, typically center itself about an intermedullary rod placed into the femur. The lateral and medial, forces exerted by lateral and medial sides of the femoral adjustment member and the cut tibial plateau against each other are measured. The femoral adjustment member is adjusted to apply and/or adjust tension to the lateral collateral ligament and/or the medial, collateral ligament based on the measured forces, for example, such that the measured lateral force and the measured medial force are matched. Based on the position of the adjusted femoral member, guided clean-up cuts for placement of a new femoral prostheses are made on the cut end of the distal femur.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for facilitating a surgical procedure on a knee, the method comprising:
 inserting an intermedullary rod into the femoral intermedullary canal of a femur such that a portion of the intermedullary rod extends distally outward from a cut distal end of the femur;   sliding a femoral adjustment member over the distally extending portion of the intermedullary rod to engage the cut distal end of the femur with the femoral adjustment member, the femoral adjustment member comprising a lateral femoral portion and a medial femoral portion;   measuring a lateral force exerted by a lateral femoral portion of the femoral adjustment member and a lateral tibial portion of a tibial plateau against one another;   measuring a medial force exerted by a medial femoral portion of the femoral adjustment member and a medial tibial portion of the tibial plateau against one another; and   adjusting the femoral adjustment member based on the measured lateral force and the measured medial force to apply tension to at least one of the lateral collateral ligament and the medial collateral ligament.