Patient-specific knee alignment guide and associated method

1. An orthopedic device for preparing a knee joint for a prosthesis in a patient comprising:

a distal cutting block;

first and second guiding pins; and

a femoral alignment guide having a patient-specific three-dimensional curved inner surface preoperatively configured from medical image scans of the knee joint of the patient to nestingly conform and mate and match only in one position to a corresponding three-dimensional femoral surface of a joint surface of the patient, the femoral alignment guide having a first guiding hole corresponding to an anterior portion of the femoral surface, and a second guiding hole corresponding to an anterior portion of the femoral surface, wherein the first and second guiding holes each have an open perimeter only partially surrounded by the femoral alignment guide so as to form an open portion, the first and second guiding holes being configured to allow removal of the femoral alignment guide by sliding the femoral alignment guide off the first and second guiding pins through the open portions, wherein the first and second guiding holes are preoperatively configured on the femoral alignment guide for drilling corresponding first and second holes on the femoral surface with the first and second guiding pins to support the distal cutting block on the first and second guiding pins and guide a patient-specific distal planar resection of the femoral surface through the distal cutting block after the femoral alignment guide is removed.

2. The orthopedic device of claim 1 , wherein the femoral alignment guide has a variable thickness.

3. The orthopedic device of claim 1 , wherein the femoral alignment guide has a thickened area around each of the first and second guiding holes.

4. The orthopedic device of claim 1 , wherein the femoral alignment guide includes a viewing window.

5. The orthopedic device of claim 1 , wherein the first and second guiding holes are asymmetrically located on the femoral alignment guide.

6. The orthopedic device of claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional curved inner surface of the femoral alignment guide is configured to mate with articular cartilage covering the femoral surface.

7. The orthopedic device of claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional curved inner surface of the femoral alignment guide is configured to mate with a bone portion underlying the femoral surface.

8. The orthopedic device of claim 1 , wherein the femoral alignment guide is configured to snap onto the femoral surface.

9. The orthopedic device of claim 1 , further comprising a tibial alignment guide having a patient-specific three-dimensional inner curved surface preoperatively configured from medical image scans of the knee joint of the patient to mate with a corresponding three-dimensional tibial surface of the joint surface of the patient; wherein the tibial alignment guide is configured to wrap around an anterior-medial edge of the tibial surface.

10. The orthopedic device of claim 9 , wherein the tibial alignment guide includes first and second tibial guiding holes configured for guiding first and second tibial guiding pins into the tibial surface.

11. The orthopedic device of claim 10 , wherein the first and second tibial guiding holes are not fully surrounded by the tibial alignment guide and are configured to allow removal of the tibial guide without removing the first and second tibial guiding pins from the tibial surface.