Patient-specific hip joint devices

Abstract

An implant for a femoral head of a patient. The implant includes a shell implantable on the femoral head of the patient and correcting a defect of the femoral head. The shell is designed preoperatively to have a patient-specific first surface for articulation with the patient's acetabulum and a patient-specific periphery mateable with a periphery of the defect. The shell caps the defect and the first surface of the shell is continuous to a remaining healthy surface of the femoral head. The defect can be a bone defect, a cartilage defect or a combination thereof.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method of implanting a femoral implant, the method comprising:
 removing a defect in a femoral head to define a defect periphery of a removed area in healthy bone;   positioning the femoral implant proximate the removed area, the femoral implant having a patient-specific portion and a fixation element;   inserting the fixation element into the healthy bone at the removed area; and   aligning the patient-specific portion with the defect periphery of the removed area.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising mating a patient-specific periphery of the patient-specific portion with the defect periphery of the removed area. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , aligning a patient-specific articulating surface of the patient-specific portion with a healthy bone surface surrounding the removed area. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the patient-specific articulating surface comprises a three-dimensionally curved articulation surface that is configured to replace the defect in the femoral head with a continuation of the healthy bone surface. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising mating a three-dimensionally curved surface of a patient-specific bone-engaging surface of the patient-specific portion located opposite the patient-specific articulating surface with a correspondingly curved healthy bone surface in the removed area. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein removing the defect in the femoral head comprises removing a cartilage defect in the femoral head. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein removing the cartilage defect comprises trimming or burring the femoral head to remove the cartilage defect to form the defect periphery. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising attaching the fixation element to the patient-specific articulating portion before inserting the fixation element into the removed area. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising press fitting the fixation element into the healthy bone at the removed area. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the fixation element is comprised of a resorbable material. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising applying a cementing agent to the femoral implant in the removed area. 
     
     
         32 . A method of designing a patient-specific humeral head implant, the method comprising:
 obtaining images of a femoral head in a hip joint of a specific patient;   identifying an anatomic defect in the femoral head from the images of the femoral head, the defect including an anatomic periphery and an anatomic articulating surface; and   modeling a patient-specific humeral head implant from the images of the femoral head, the patient-specific humeral head implant having a patient-specific periphery configured to replicate the anatomic periphery.   
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising generating medical scan data to construct three-dimensional imaging from which the images are obtainable. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein modeling the patient-specific humeral head implant comprises using a CAD program to generate a CAD file. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising manufacturing the patient-specific humeral head implant. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising modeling the patient-specific humeral head implant to have a three-dimensionally curved patient-specific articulating surface configured to replace the anatomic articulating surface with a continuation of a healthy bone surface. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising:
 identifying a removal area in the femoral head to produce a void for removing the anatomic defect; and   modeling the patient-specific humeral head implant to have a three-dimensionally curved bone-facing surface configured to conform and engage a healthy area of the femoral head in the void.   
     
     
         38 . A method of repairing a hip-joint, the method comprising:
 identifying an anatomic defect in a femoral head, the defect including an anatomic periphery and an anatomic articulating surface;   obtaining a patient-specific humeral head implant having a patient-specific periphery configured to replicate the anatomic periphery;   removing the anatomic defect in the femoral head to define a void periphery of a removed area in healthy bone, the void periphery matching the anatomic periphery;   inserting the patient-specific humeral head implant into the void periphery area; and   mating the patient-specific periphery with the defect periphery.   
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , further comprising aligning a patient-specific articulating surface of the patient-specific portion to be continuous with a healthy bone surface surrounding the void periphery. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 38 , further comprising engaging a three-dimensionally curved bone-facing surface of the patient-specific humeral head implant with a healthy area of the femoral head within the void periphery.