Patent · US Expired

Method of designing and manufacturing a human joint prosthesis

US4936862A · kind A · utility

982Cited by
5References
10Claims
0Family size

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 29, 1988
Grant dateJun 26, 1990
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 29, 2008

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S623/914
  • WIPO fieldMedical technology
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A customized human joint prosthesis replicating the primary contours and dimensions of a patient's bone is designed and manufactured utilizing an average anatomical bone shape. The average anatomical bone shape is generated by digitizing and storing in a computer memory the average three dimensional shape of a significant number of actual bone portions corresponding to the bone portion to be replaced by the prosthesis. Thereafter, the scale of the patient's bone is determined by measuring the outside dimensions of the patient's bone in at least one plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of that bone. The average anatomical shape then is adjusted to form a first synthesized shape which conforms to that scale. Subsequently, the actual shape of the bone of the patient is measured along a plurality of longitudinally spaced lines in at least one plane normal to the longitudinal axis of the patient's bone. The first synthesized shape is then adjusted to form a second synthesized shape conforming to the measured shape of the patient's bone. The second synthesized shape is manufactured by CAD/CAM or other suitable means.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.