System for determining the position of a knee prosthesis

1. A method for determining a position of a joint prosthesis using a computer assisted orthopedic surgery system in support of an arthroplasty surgery of a joint of a patient comprising:

attaching a first locatable element to a first bone on one side of the joint;

providing a sensor comprising a second locatable element;

moving the sensor in proximity of the joint, wherein a plurality of positions on the first bone is located by locating a plurality of positions of the sensor relative to the first locatable element using a tracking device;

selecting a generic model of a joint that is not specific to the patient;

deforming, with the use of a computer, the generic model in response to the plurality of positions located on the first bone of the joint;

determining an initial position of a joint prosthesis on the deformed model;

determining a section plane in the deformed model corresponding to the initial position of the joint prosthesis;

determining a contour between a surface of the deformed generic model and the section plane; and

displaying the contour of the deformed generic model on a display.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

(a) determining a contour of the joint prosthesis at the section plane; and

(b) displaying the contour of the joint prosthesis alongside the contour of the deformed generic model.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

(c) selecting an initial size of the joint prosthesis;

(d) determining if all edges of the contour of the joint prosthesis are inside all edges of the contour of the deformed generic model; and

(e) repeating steps (a), (b) and (d) for a subsequent joint prosthesis until a largest size joint prosthesis is determined for which all edges of the contour of the joint prosthesis are inside all edges of the contour of the deformed generic model.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining a maximum size of the joint prosthesis based on the displayed contours.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the maximum size of the joint prosthesis is defined as a size wherein all edges of the contour of the joint prosthesis are inside all edges of the contour of the deformed generic model.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

defining a first rectangle of minimum size encompassing all contour points of the deformed generic model and a second rectangle of minimum size encompassing all contour points of the joint prosthesis;

orienting an edge of the first and second rectangles to be parallel to a horizontal axis; and

determining intervals between edges of the first and second rectangles.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a distance between the contour of the deformed generic model and the joint prosthesis about opposite sides of the first bone; and

repositioning the joint prosthesis on the deformed model to equalize the distances between the contour of the deformed generic model and the joint prosthesis about opposite sides of the first bone.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a maximum size of the joint prosthesis based on the displayed contour of the deformed generic model.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the joint is a knee joint that includes a femur and a tibia and the joint prosthesis is a femoral component or a tibial component.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining an accuracy of the deformed generic model based upon a density of the plurality of positions located; and

displaying the accuracy of the deformed generic model using at least one of various colors and line thicknesses.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the joint is one selected from the group consisting of a knee joint, an elbow joint and a shoulder joint.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the section plane is a horizontal section plane.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking device is at least one selected from the group consisting of a camera, a magnetic tracker, a mechanical tracker, and an acoustic tracker.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is selected from the group consisting of a palpation device, an echographic device, a radiographic device, and combinations thereof.

15. A method for determining a position of a joint prosthesis using a computer assisted orthopedic surgery system in support of an arthroplasty surgery of a joint of a patient comprising:

attaching a first locatable element to a first bone on one side of the joint;

providing a sensor comprising a second locatable element;

moving the sensor in proximity of the joint, wherein a plurality of positions on the first bone is located by locating a plurality of positions of the sensor relative to the first locatable element using a tracking device,

selecting a generic model of a joint that is not specific to the patient;

deforming, with the use of a computer, the generic model in response to the plurality of positions located using the tracking device;

determining an initial position of a joint prosthesis on the deformed model;

determining a section plane in the deformed model corresponding to the initial position of the joint prosthesis;

determining a contour between a surface of the deformed generic model and the section plane and a contour of the joint prosthesis at the section plane; and

displaying the contour of the joint prosthesis alongside the contour of the deformed generic model on a display.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

determining an accuracy of the deformed generic model based upon a density of the plurality of positions located; and

displaying the accuracy of the deformed generic model using at least one of various colors and line thicknesses.

17. A method for determining a size of a femoral joint prosthesis using a computer assisted orthopedic surgery system in support of an arthroplasty surgery of a knee joint of a patient comprising:

selecting a generic model of a knee joint that is not specific to the patient;

deforming, with the use of a computer, the generic model in response to a plurality of positions located on a first bone of the joint;

determining an initial position and size of a femoral joint prosthesis on the deformed model;

calculating a distance value between an anterior aspect of the selected size femoral joint prosthesis and a surface of the deformed model; and

displaying on a display the size of the femoral joint prosthesis and the calculated distance valve between the anterior aspect of the selected size femoral joint prosthesis and the surface of the deformed model.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising determining an optimal size femoral joint prosthesis by iteratively minimizing the distance value between the anterior aspect of the femoral joint prosthesis and the surface of the deformed model of the knee joint.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the step of iteratively minimizing the distance value includes selecting a subsequent larger sized femoral joint prosthesis and calculating a distance value between an anterior aspect of the subsequent larger size femoral joint prosthesis and the surface of the deformed model.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the distance value between the anterior aspect of the femoral joint prosthesis and the surface of the deformed model of the knee joint is calculated at an endmost proximal point of the femoral joint prosthesis.

21. The method of claim 17 , wherein the femoral joint prosthesis is initially positioned based upon at least one posterior condyle of the deformed model of the knee joint.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the initial positioning of the femoral joint prosthesis is based upon a most posterior point on the condyles of the deformed model of the knee joint.