Alignable prostheses system and method

1. An alignable joint prosthesis system, comprising:

a joint prosthesis, including:

a head including an articular surface, an alignment portion and a chamber, the articular surface including a bottom;

a stem including an anchor portion configured for anchoring in a bone and a neck portion configured to mate with said head;

said neck portion including a spherical protuberance;

said chamber being configured to receive said spherical protuberance;

said chamber additionally being configured to permit free rotation of said head about said spherical protuberance when said spherical protuberance is received in said chamber;

a set screw configured to impede further rotation of said spherical protuberance in said chamber; and

a jig, including:

a handle portion including a grasping portion configured to mate with said alignment portion of said head and hold said head at a particular orientation relative to said neck portion while said grasping portion is engaged with said alignment portion, a center of said grasping portion defining a point on a first longitudinal axis;

a tailpiece portion including an extension and a brace, said brace defining a second point on said first longitudinal axis;

a spacing bar defining a second longitudinal axis through a length of said spacing bar, said handle portion engageable to a first end of said spacing bar, said tailpiece portion engageable at a second end of said spacing bar and said extension of said tailpiece portion dimensioned to cause said first longitudinal axis to be parallel to said second longitudinal axis; and

said grasping portion configured to align said alignment portion of said head into a position such that an imaginary plane tangential to the bottom of said articular surface of said head is held perpendicular to said first longitudinal axis while said grasping portion is engaged with said alignment portion.

2. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said spherical protuberance passes through said sidewall of said head to enter said chamber.

3. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said anchor portion and said neck portion are formed as a single piece.

4. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said anchor portion and said neck portion are formed as separate pieces and are mated together to form said stem.

5. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein the stem is configured to be received in the medullary canal of a radius and the head is sized to replace a radial head.

6. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said chamber includes a plurality of splines for engaging said spherical protuberance when said spherical protuberance is disposed in said chamber.

7. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 6 , wherein said set screw includes a face for engaging said spherical protuberance and maintaining said spherical protuberance against said splines when said set screw is advanced a predetermined distance through said sidewall.

8. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 7 , wherein the face is pointed.

9. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said stem includes a flange at an upper portion of the anchor portion, a top surface of said flange being disposed in a plane perpendicular to an axis through the length of said stem.

10. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said set screw is sized to be received through a sidewall of said head, said sidewall including a threaded portion for receiving said set screw, said threaded portion permitting the set screw to be advanced through said sidewall to abut said spherical protuberance when said protuberance is received in said chamber.

11. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said grasping portion includes a clamping portion that includes lugs configured to mate with indentations in said alignment portion.

12. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said grasping portion includes two parallel prongs configured to engage with correspondingly shaped dovetail sidewalls of said alignment portion.

13. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said brace of said tailpiece portion is configured as a sleeve capable of receiving a K-wire, the axis of said sleeve being collinear with said first axis.

14. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said brace is configured to rest on the forearm of a patient, said second point on said first longitudinal axis being a center point of an arc defined by a curvature of said brace.

15. The alignable joint prosthesis system of claim 1 , wherein said tailpiece portion is movable along and fixable to said spacing bar.

16. A method for placing a prosthesis device in a joint, comprising the steps of:

providing access to the joint;

providing an alignable joint prosthesis system according to claim 1 ;

removing a portion of a first bone of the joint to expose the medullary canal of the first bone;

inserting an anchoring portion of a stem into the exposed medullary canal of the first bone, the stem including a neck portion disposed at one end of the anchoring portion, the neck portion extending outside of the exposed medullary canal;

side-loading a head onto the neck, the head including a first surface configured to engage a portion of a second bone in the joint;

after the inserting step, rotating the head on the neck to achieve a desired angle of the first surface relative to an axis through the length of the stem; and

after the rotating step, using a set screw to impede further rotation of the head on the neck.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising the steps of:

locating the jig on the patient parallel to an axis of rotation of the joint;

with the handle portion, grasping the alignment portion of the head to hold the head at a desired angle relative to the neck while the grasping portion is engaged with said alignment portion; and

using the jig to hold the head at the desired angle prior to and/or during the locking step.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising the steps of:

pronating the forearm of the patient prior to the inserting step; and

and locating the jig on the forearm of the patient parallel to the axis of rotation of the radial-ulnar joint.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising the steps of:

drilling a K-wire into a third bone of the joint; and

aligning the jig on the K-wire.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the K-wire is drilled into the fovea of the ulna.

21. The method of claim 17 , wherein the locking step includes advancing a set screw through a sidewall of the head to engage a portion of the neck contained in a cavity of the head and to impede further rotation of the head about the neck.