Advance Methods and Techniques for Designing Knee Implant Components

Abstract

Disclosed are various advanced methods, devices, and systems for implants, tools and techniques that facilitate the surgical repair of a knee joint while allowing retention of more natural kinematics and preserving controlled rotation and translation of the repaired joint.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of designing an implant for use in treatment of a knee joint of a patient, the method comprising:
 receiving patient-specific anatomical information;   generating a model of at least a portion of a femur and a tibia of the knee joint based, at least in part, on the patient-specific information, the at least a portion of the femur including a trochlear groove located at an anatomic position and orientation and having an anatomic shape, and the at least a portion of the tibia including a tibial tuberosity located at an anatomic position;   designing a shape of a joint-facing surface of an implant component based, at least in part, on a shape of a corresponding joint surface in the model;   generating a modified model of the at least a portion of the tibia in which the location of the tibial tuberosity of the tibia is translated medially or laterally relative to its anatomic position; and   modifying a shape of at least a portion of the joint-facing surface of the implant component based, at least in part, on the translation of the tibial tuberosity.